Code Geass: Rise of the Blue Moon
by NSBleach00
Summary: The Black Rebellion had succeeded, however, Britannia still stands strong. Even though they won the Black Knights must tend to their wounds while building the United States of Japan. In their stead a new Order is necessary to tackle Britannia in their place. With only a sword and a blue haired girl with immortality at his side a young man sets out in search of allies to assist him.
1. Prologue

**Author Note's: Hello everyone, this is NSBleach00 here with a new Code Geass story. Actually, it's a spin off story to go along with my other story, Colorless Memories, and I decided to write this up as a way to celebrate the one year anniversary of when I started that story last year in August. I was planning on having the first chapter of this story and Chapter 33 of Colorless Memories up all at once but…I'm not quite finished with the other chapter yet so…Anyways. Now, this spin off story is going to be several short stories of what Rai undertook after the Black Rebellion and before the Blue Moon Order's activities in Japan and they will link up with the main story eventually. Also, as a warning it is highly recommended that you read the first twenty five chapters of Colorless Memories before reading this story as this is a spin off story. Also, like in Chapter 18 of Colorless Memories the prologue of this story has several dialogues that probably won't make since until further on in the side or main story so do beware. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the prologue. I plan to have Chapter 1 up soon and hopefully the next chapter of the main story as well.**

Code Geass: Rise of the Blue Moon

Prologue

August 28, 2017 a.t.b. Location: C's World

It was a calm, quiet, and peaceful place. The bright, yellow sun floats high in the blue sky while it shines forth down on the green garden with many colorful flowers which seems stretch out endlessly. In the center of this garden lies a lone tree. Underneath the branches of the tree are eight chairs that form a circle. They were all positioned to form a circle under the shade that the tree provided, away from the sunlight. Five of these eight seats were occupied.

Sitting in the first chair was a young looking woman with long green hair and was wearing a grey Britannian prison uniform. Her name was C.C. Two seats from her was another woman who looked young. She looked somewhat similar to the first one except her hair was blue and she was wearing a light weighted, silver colored coat. Her name was E.E. From there, sitting two seats from the blue haired woman was an intellectual looking man who seemed to be in his mid forties. He was dressed in clothing that looked very close to the style of clothing back in the days of the Renaissance of ancient Europe. Although, his hair style resembled that of many Europeans today. His hair color was black with a tint of gray mixed in. His name was W.W. Sitting next to him was a woman who looked very similar to the first two women. She had long, dark, violet hair as well as being draped in violet garments that looked like they were from the Roman era. Her name was H.H. Next to her was the final person. It was a man who looked like he was in his early thirties. He seemed to be the most ordinary looking out of the five; who was wearing a prosecutor suit along with having the most natural hair color, with it being brown. He was also wearing reading glasses that added to his already sharp look. His name was J.J.

"Ah, C.C., how nice it is to see you again. Although you're nothing but a witch to the outside world you're still a lovely maiden amongst us." W.W. said as he sat straight up in his chair and crossed his arms while giving C.C. a smile with his hardened looking face.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment? Whatever it was, flattery will get you nowhere with me." C.C. coldly responded.

"I'm…sorry if I offended you in any way."

W.W. then put his hand over his mouth and gave a simple cough before he continued to speak.

"Ehem…Putting that aside…It's good to see that you're all here. Even so, it seems we are still missing quite of few people."

As W.W. said that he spread his right arm out and made everyone take notice of the three still unattended seats.

"I believe it is safe to assume that they are not going to show up." H.H. calmly proclaimed.

"Yes, last time I checked V.V. is still in Japan doing who knows what. Knowing him though, it probably has something to do with his research for the Order. In fact, if memory serves me correctly the lead role for the Order used to be your job C.C. What's the matter; was the job not good enough for you, or maybe it was too much work for you?" J.J. called out.

"Hmph…like I still wanted to be some figurehead for the people of the Order to gawk at." C.C. retorted back.

"And then there's the matter of X.X." W.W. added in.

"What, are we still talking about that? That's already old news to us. We all already know that X.X. was, literally, stabbed in the back two years ago by his accomplice…The Black Star of Thanatos…" J.J. brashed out.

"Yes, but from what I heard he changed his named again from the moment he stole X.X.'s code. I believe that he goes by the name 'Surt Zilch' now these days…" H.H. added in.

"But you would know more about that than we do, wouldn't you E.E.? Considering your past relationship with him and everything…" H.H. finished saying.

"Hmph…don't associate me with that man. I have nothing to do with him anymore. Also, it's his fault that I'm here in the first place." E.E. responded back.

"But, you do still plan on foiling his plans one of these days in the near future don't you? We're expecting you to do so." H.H. said with concern of the issue.

"Yes, someday…However, as things stand now his plans is of little concern to me. From my perspective he nothing but a big, black, bug that I can stomp on at any time I see fit. What disturbs me however is this so called Ragnarok Connection that Charles and V.V. are trying to set up. I highly disapprove of it." E.E. remarked.

"And why exactly do you feel that way?" W.W. questioned.

"Why, you ask? You said that Charles and V.V. wish to create a 'world without lies', correct?"

"Yes, that is what they claim they're going to do. By merging all of the human consciousness into one." W.W. answered.

"A childish wish, not to mention a very selfish one. Also, I think that sort of world would be quite dull, as well as boring. It wouldn't be the kind of world that I would want to be part of. Hmph…for someone who is supposed to be one of the most powerful and influential person in the world, not to mention all of his boasting; he is a rather disappointing man. Charles says he hates fighting and lies yet look at how he runs his country. He is the very definition of the word hypocrite. He goes around saying he will change the world for the better yet he turns a blind eye to the world we all live in now and chooses not to do anything about it even though he is in the position to do so. And also, the way he plans to carry it out is also ludicrous."

"Yeah, I heard that they plan on doing this by killing that thing called 'god' up there." J.J. added in as he looked up in the sky.

Standing close by what was supposed to be the sun was a planet that looked very similar to Jupiter.

"Yes, that what I heard too." H.H. joined in.

"Kill 'god'…? Oh for heaven's sake…not that again. Don't you already know…people have been trying to kill what they claim is 'god' for a very long time…with very little success."

"Yeah, that is true. But if I looked at the past history of the Thought Elevators correctly I remembered that their research was severely slowed down because you stole the prototype Sword of Akasha from the Order, E.E." J.J. said.

"Steal…you dare call me a thief of something that I created?" E.E. harshly responded back.

"Alright, that's enough…Calm down, both of you!" W.W. yelled out to bring order back in.

"In any case, this is something for all of you to know…It's impossible to kill 'god', no matter what system you might try to use…whether it's through Ragnarok or any other system, it cannot be done. Well, unless you bring 'that thing' out of the African Thought Elevator and give a good swing with it…then you might kill 'god'." E.E. joked.

"E.E., don't joke around about something like that! That thing was the most dangerous weapon used in the Eight Holy Saints War! It was because of that weapon that the Earth no longer has a thing called pangaea anymore!" W.W. hysterically yelled out in fear.

"My, the way you are speaking it's as if even trying to bring up the name of that weapon is taboo." H.H. calmly said.

"Well, I don't blame him. After all, it was a weapon that could only be wielded by a person who truly deserves to be called a king. The weapon itself had to be thrown into the very bottom of the Thought Elevator. That was the only way to stop them." J.J. said.

"Anyways, as for you W.W., pray tell, don't tell me that the three of you actually approve of this 'Assimilation Plot' that V.V. and Charles are cooking up." E.E. said as she glanced at W.W. as well as H.H. and J.J.

"…Of course not. The three of us are completely neutral like in every other matter. Including myself, H.H. and J.J. here are Observers after all. Our role is to watch over everything that happens on the outside world and record it here in the Thought Elevators as well as maintain C's World. Whatever happens to the Earth is completely dependent of you Balancers." W.W. said as he stared at E.E. and then at C.C.

"Yes, that is true. However, I'm not going to point my finger at anyone but I do believe that out of the eight of us, one of us Immortals is not doing their job correctly."

As soon as E.E. finished saying that, along with her, W.W., J.J., and H.H. looked directly at C.C.

"…What, why are you all staring at me for? I didn't do anything." C.C. whimsically whimpered.

"And that is exactly the problem with you C.C., you don't do anything. And sometimes doing nothing can be just as bad as doing something. Have you ever heard the saying 'Evil deeds comes out of those who do nothing', because that is exactly the case with you."

"And what exactly do you mean by that H.H.?"

"Do I really have to explain it to you? All we really have to do is look at your past experience with all the contracts you made. Seriously, you have broken the record ten times over for having the most people being corrupted by the power of Geass. Surely, even you must have some guilt for what became of them in the end, even if you are called the Gray Witch." H.H. gravely said.

"So, it's all my fault that they couldn't learn how to control the power huh?"

"Actually, it is." J.J. added in.

"I can't exactly pinpoint where it began, but over the years you appear to have develop a lack of empathy to explain the terms of your contracts with people as well as tell them the details about Geass. I have reason to believe that you do this for your own amusement." J.J. said as he finished speaking.

"Well, there might be some truth as to what you just said. But really, it's the only kind of enjoyment I can find these days. I must admit, I rather enjoyed having this power and being an Immortal for all this time. But I have long since stop feeling that way and now wish I can just disappear. I'm not like E.E. I'm just not interested at all about being a Balancer anymore. It's not like I ever asked to have this power, or given a choice for that matter." C.C. sorrowfully whispered at the end.

"Even so, that doesn't excuse the chaos that you've brought into this world through your actions." H.H. heartfully said.

"Speaking of chaos, you're latest contractor isn't that impressive either. Like you, he also broken a record of losing control of his Geass in the shortest amount of time of having it. We only have to look at what happened last week to confirm that. But then again, I guess that is bound to happen if you give a Britannian Prince like him the power of Geass. He can't help himself but to use that kind of power to get his way." J.J. added in.

"You guys surely do like to only point out all the so called 'bad' things I do." C.C. said as a smile formed on her face.

"Heh, because of that kid he almost caused the biggest scandal there is in the world. I mean, anyone who even has knowledge of Geass could correctly guess that young Lelouch used Geass on Euphemia to cause what could only be called a mess."

"Furthermore, it has now come to our attention that if Lelouch and his Geass ability cannot be 'tamed' correctly, he could serve to be an even bigger problem than your last contractor. Since he is one of the Princes of Britannia, he could very well become something like Charles, or even worse…" H.H. then stopped from speaking any further.

"Anyways, putting the Imperial Family aside we really shouldn't try to pin all the blame on C.C., even if some of the things she does is intentional. We all are just humans after all and we make mistakes…even you have made some wrongs in the past E.E." W.W. said as he looked over at E.E.

"Oh, so we're going to talk some more about me huh…and what sin might I have made, if I may ask?" E.E. asked as she was disturbed by the question.

"Well, first of all there is the fact that you have been hiding yourself behind that 'family' for all these years, making yourself out to be their Guardian Angel or something like that. What's up with that?" J.J. first spoke out.

"My, your making it sound like it's so wrong to work with one family."

"That's because you've been with them for almost one thousand years now."

"Okay, but before we go any further I would like to point out that T.T. has been with what could be called the Britannian Imperial Families' ancestral line for almost two thousand years before V.V. took his code and got rid of him. So it's practically a common practice among Immortals to make close connections with certain families in these times now, considering what the main role of a Balancer is and all. And it's true; I have become somewhat attached to that particular family in all this time."

E.E. then simply smiled as she was being reminded of something.

"Ah yes, it all started with him. When I first met him he was a nobody…He could have died and nobody would have minded or cared for that matter. But I managed to turn him into someone…I was able to make a man out of him yet, gave him all the power he needed and you know what…He went beyond that and contributed many great things for his country."

"That still didn't stop what became of him in the end. Surely you remember what happened that day more than anyone else?"

When J.J. said that the smile E.E. had quickly disappeared.

"Yes, I know. No one expected 'that' to happen to him of all people, nor of the pandemonium that occurred afterwards. However, no one is at fault for what occurred on that cruel, twisted day. It is just further proof of how corrupt Geass has become ever since the days of the Eight Holy Saints, back when having it was really a blessing. Now these days it is treated as some kind of curse for those who even have knowledge of it."

"And yet you're still sticking around with that family?" J.J. pointed out.

"Yes well, as great as that man was, do to one thing or another, he wasn't able to complete the contract I made with him. But, he did guarantee me that, if I stuck around with them long enough one of his descendants will be able to complete the contract I have made with him."

"And you decided to believe him?"

"Yes, I suppose I did. And it wasn't because I liked him or anything; I just felt that there was indeed some truth coming from his mouth. And ever since then I have decided that I would not accept anyone other than one who carries the blood of the Sumeragi family in them.

"Even so…First a samurai, then a woman who was not only a martial artist but who also mastered the art of the sword, and now what's this…a Japanese Knight?" J.J called out in confusement.

"Yes well, I have always kind of wanted my own knight…especially one who knows how to do more than just blindly follow Britannia's orders. Ah yes, I believe he might actually be the one."

"Oh yeah, that's what you said about the last one and look what happened to her…"

"Yes, but this one is different. That boy will become the true embodiment of the one who will grant all of my desires. Not to mention that he wears the color blue around him."

"What does that color have to do with anything?"

"…Don't you know, the color blue is the sign of a hero in the making."

"Even putting that aside, why do you always put so much faith into those you make contracts with E.E.?" W.W. asked.

"Well, if I didn't think they could do the job I suppose I wouldn't have made a contract with them in the first place, now would I? And how can you expect people to do anything if you don't give them some kind of boost of encouragement to help push them forward?"

"Still, you probably only say this one has a good chance to fulfill your contract only because he looks like 'him', doesn't he?" J.J. said.

"…Did I say he could complete my contract because he looks like 'him', no, I believe I did not. While yes, they do look similar there is one distinct difference that makes this one far more likely to complete the contract and separates him from the rest of them. And that very unique thing is…"

And then, as if something went through her mind, E.E. suddenly stood up.

"That presence, he's on Kamine Island…Which means he'll be calling for me very soon. Excuse me, but I must be going now."

Before she got far however W.W. spoke up which seemed to have paralyzed her feet.

"Wait, before you depart answer me one thing E.E. What exactly are you planning to do? Answer honestly please."

"Do you really need to ask? I'm going to carry out the original ideas of the Eight Holy Saints of course, their plans for the world that the rest of you apparently forgot about. After all, the one I made a contract with will soon become the 'Counter Guardian' that I have always envisioned him to become. And once that happens then…well, you all will know what will happen next…"

And with that E.E. walked away and soon disappeared from the line of sight of the four other Immortals.

"Well then, even putting E.E. and her 'Counter Guardian' aside there is still the eighth Immortal to talk about, who is actually another person E.E. knows very well." W.W. calmly said as the meeting of Immortals continued without E.E. around.

* * *

Meanwhile, as E.E. made her way over to the entrance of C's World she eventually arrived at a door and waited for it to be open from the outside.

"Now then, it is time for the Blue Moon to rise once again in the night sky, glowing ever brightly on the one I have chosen to bring about the 'Power of Order' onto this world, countering all the 'Chaos' that has spread about. All that is yet to discover now is whether or not he can actually pull it off. Although, at this point, nobody knows yet on how that will unfold."

E.E. then saw the door before her opening up.

"And now, the door to the future…is now open."

"_And so it begins…"_


	2. Chapter 1

"_May the path that the Blue Moon threads lead you to the truth."_

That's what she said to me…The words that E.E. spoke that would lead to the path that I now walk.

Code Geass: The Rise of the Blue Moon

Act I: The Opening of the Blue Curtains

November 14, 2017 a.t.b.

Location: London Tower (Third Person View: Rai)

"Uwwaahh!" A middle aged man in a black robe yelled out as his entire body was flung across the hallway.

From the direction of where the man came from I rushed down the hallway at incredible speed as the poncho I was wearing flapped in the air behind me. At the speed I was going any normal person trying to focus their attention on me would probably only see myself as only a blur.

As I continued to speed down the hallway I was about to cross the corridor until the I noticed two guards in strange black robes, similar to the one I sent flying earlier, standing in front of a door that leads to the upper portion of the tower.

"So, there were more guards here than I thought." I whispered under my breath.

I then retreated to the side of the corner of the passageway I came down previously, hoping that the guards didn't notice me. I then rested my back up against the edge of the wall and took a moment to take in deep breaths as well as think of a way to deal with the current situation. I needed to get through that door they are standing in front of so I could get to my next destination. I guess I could try a frontal assault on them since they are holding spears in their hands but this is my first time dealing with people from 'that' Order. It's hard to tell what they might have up their sleeves.

I then suddenly heard footsteps heading my way. It was coming in the direction of where the guards were standing. Did they see me earlier when I was charging down the corridor? Anyways, depending on whether it's one or both of them I could use this to my advantage. This is my chance. I then closed my eyes and listened intently to the sound of the footsteps.

After zoning in very closely I heard two separate sets of feet walking in my direction.

Okay, this is good. That means both of them left their post to check on me. Now all I got to this do is stand like this and…

I then got into the appropriate position and waited to surprise my enemies.

Once the guards finally reached the spot from where they thought they saw a person running around earlier, one of them jumped immediately into the intersection while holding onto his spear with both hands. However, the first thing he saw was my foot kicking him right in the middle of his face. He was then knocked back and banged the back of his head against the wall behind him. He seemed to have been knocked out cold.

I then immediately turned my attention to the other guy and charged towards his direction. The second guard took noticed and, in an attempt to outdo me and act quickly, thrusted his spear forward, hoping to hit me with it. However, his move was too careless and not focused as I swiftly pulled a sword out of poncho with my right hand and intercepted the spear with my weapon.

"What kind of sword is that?" The second guard questioned out loud as he never saw a sword like the one I'm wielding before. Its appearance looked like it was a cross breed of a katana and a longsword and its name was…Kusanagi.

The next thing the guard saw was my sword carving right into his spear and then saw it snap right in half as if it were a chopstick.

"How could a sword do that?" The guard gasped out in fear.

And then, in the next moment I had my sword jabbed into the left side of his body. He wailed out in a cry of pain and once I pulled my sword out of his body he succumbed to the pain and collapsed onto the ground. I then looked down to see that he was still breathing, which meant he was still alive. That was fine though as I intentionally missed hitting any vital spots. Well, now I can go through that door.

As I walked over to the place that the two guards were standing previously I barely opened the door and then slipped right through the small crack I made.

I now found myself in a large, circular room that stretched upward along with a set of stairs that circled upward towards the final room. However, I quickly saw that I was not alone as there were ten other people, all staring at me. Five of them stood out in the front with spears in their hands while the other five all held rifles.

"Put your hands in the air and surrender immediately!" One of the guys in the back shouted out.

"…Sure thing." I complied as I pulled my arms out of my poncho and placed them clenched in the air.

I then slowly opened my tightened fists and two, small grenade-like orbs dropped out of my hands and fell to the ground. Once the orbs made contact with the floor they cracked open and a white, thick smokescreen quickly consumed the room.

"Ergh, what is this…a fog?!" One of the guards yelled out loudly.

"It might be poison gas! Everyone, close your mouths and move carefully! We need to eliminate the intruder as quickly as possible!" One of the guards with a rifle shouted at the top of his lungs.

The five guys with spears then started to move about the room while squinting their eyes behind the masks they were wearing.

Little did they know that the smokescreen I created was actually very harmless and just makes it very hard to see in. However, unfortunately for them my eyes were already trained to see well enough so I could make my way safely through this kind of fog. I then brought my sword out and starting thinning down there numbers. The first guard I met had his back turned away from me so I just banged the back of his neck with the hilt of my sword. It was enough to knock him down unconsciously. The next guy I met obviously didn't see coming and was just waving his gun around wildly with his eyes closed. I rushed right up to him and kicked him right in the gut. He went flying backwards and crashed into the wall behind him. I then continued knocking out more of the confused guards hidden in the smokescreen until I thought I finished most of them off.

Once I knocked the eighth guard out I heard footsteps heading up the stairs. It appeared that one of them finally wised up and move to higher grounds, away from the smokescreen. However…

The guard that moved up the steps turned his attention to the bottom of the steps that were still covered in fog and then held his rifle out, waiting for me to try to chase him up those steps. Unfortunately for him though what shot out of the fog wasn't myself but instead two lance shaped swords that I threw in his direction. The lances each stabbed right into his shoulders and knocked him up against a wall, hanging him as if he was some ornament. In all the excitement that just occurred, the rifle slipped out of his hands when he fell unconscious, with his head drooped down. It was only then that I decided to come out of the fog and started to walk up the steps. I then stood in front of the guard so I could retrieve my weapons stuck in his shoulder. As I did so I talk to myself in an almost quiet tone of voice.

"Let's see here…There were ten guards in this room when I entered. I defeated a total of eight inside that fog I created and there's another defeated guard right here so that means there should still be one more…"

I then heard the sound of the remaining guard from below jump out of the smokescreen and quickly rushed up to where I was standing. He had his rifle turned around and was preparing to hit me in the back of the head with it. Right when he was behind me and had his rifle in the air I quickly spun around and swung my sword, knocking the rifle out of his hands and into the air. I then gave a slight push with free hand and knocked him down. The rifleless guard then went tumbling down the stairs until he disappeared into the smokescreen. A few seconds later the smokescreen finally eased up and I saw nine guards lying unconsciously on the ground.

You know, for a group of people who were supposed to act as guards for the Geass Order, they weren't exactly that tough or dangerous. Were they all just new people on the job or were they just normal guards trying to do their duties while being kept in the dark. Somehow I believed the latter was the case since that seems to be what with Britannia the most.

In any case, I continued my way up the steps, escalating ever vertically upward.

When I finally reached the end of what seemed to be the never ending stairway, I stood in front of two large doors, leading to what should be London's bell tower.

As I shoved the doors open they gave off a loud cranky sound the harder I pushed. I walked inside to see the room was large, clean, and mostly deserted. I looked up to see three large bells hanging from the ceiling. I also noticed strange hieroglyphs that were painted all over the walls. They looked similar to the kind I saw inside the cave on Kanime Island.

"…This looks like the place." I murmured to myself as I headed deeper inside the room.

I walked to the center of the room where a large stone like table stood. In front of it were two lit candles. Behind the table was a large stone monument that looked out of place since it was in the middle of such a large room. Even so, the whole setting before me resembled very much like an altar of a Catholic church. I decided to walk up the three small stone steps leading to the altar and stood right in front of the hardened table.

Once I was standing on the altar I took notice of what looked like a control panel sticking out in the middle of the table. I pulled out the Kusanagi and then stabbed my blade right into the control panel.

The next instant a red bird like sigil, which somehow seemed to be almost staring at me, started to glow underneath my feet and the whole tower started to shake, almost as if an earthquake of a high magnitude has just started up. Even the hieroglyphs on the wall glowed brightly red.

As the unnatural phenomenon continued to occur the stone monument, the table, and even the control panel in front of me started to sink into the ground, almost as if they were merging with the floor.

Once the stone monuments were completely gone the tower finally stopped shacking. The red glow on the walls and floor also dissipated. I turned around to see the flames on the two candles disappear, almost as if someone just blew them out.

"…And that makes two."

As I whispered to myself I withdrawled the Kusanagi back into the sheath that I carried on my back. With those final words spoken I walked down the steps and headed out of the room.

November 15, 2017 a.t.b.

Location: Venice, Italy

It was sunny today, but even more so it was very humid even for this time of year. Thankfully though I had myself concealed underneath an umbrella that shaded the entire table I was sitting at while drinking a glass of cold lemonade I ordered from a nearby restaurant.

As I was waiting for someone to arrive I sat back in my seat and drank my lemonade while watching the citizens of this city pass by. There was also a group of nearby children playing around with each other. They were getting drenched from the sprinkler that spouted out water in the air. It was also a sign showing that the ongoing conflict with Britannia hasn't reach this far inward into the E.U. yet. Those two countries have been in conflict with each other for several years now, with each side putting an equal match against each other. But how long will that last? One side will eventually beat out the other. One side will be conquered in the end, while the other gets dimished off the face of the earth. And if Britannia happens to become victorious in the end then…

I then stared forward to see E.E., the person I have been waiting for, walking right up to my table.

"Ah, so you came." I said as I greeted E.E.

She just sat down on the opposite side of the table before speaking.

"Yes, I just got back from searching for the person you wanted to speak to. However, I'm sorry to say that I didn't get a chance to talk to her. Your princess is apparently not in her castle right now. She is probably off in some meeting for the E.U. military right now or something related to that."

"No, that's fine. I just merely wanted to talk to her, especially since I haven't even seen her for almost two years now. I'll try to get into contact with her later on my own. Anyways…"

I then decided to change the topic into a different subject.

"I recently sealed away the Thought Elevator in London. I hope W.W. doesn't mind me doing so." I passively said.

"Oh, you did huh? Well, I don't believe W.W. would care at all. It's not like he was planning on leaving that world anytime soon. He's an observer…just like those other two. He is suppose to stay in that other world twenty-four hours, seven days a week and maintain all the information locked in there."

"Even so, you said if the Thought Elevators are sealed away then 'that group' can't initiate they plan correct?"

"Yes, if even one Thought Elevator is sealed away then all of the Geass Order's plans are for naught. And it is harder and takes up more time to unseal a Though Elevator than it is to seal it away. It is vital that we prevent this Ragnarok plan of theirs from coming into fruition. Which is why you should start taking your current task more seriously. You haven't been making much progress on your end, have you?"

When E.E. asked that question Rai was silently for a few moment before answering.

"…You can blame me for being picky and choosy but…there are very specific people I want for the organization but it has been very hard for me to track them down right now. At the very least…I already took the liberty of fixing any future financial problems we might have by asking 'that family' for assistance."

"Oh, you asked 'him', didn't you?" E.E. said with annoyance.

"If it was just me and you we could probably live a lifetime out of all my fortunes and savings from my father's accounts and whatever my cousin Kaguya gives me. But since this is a group, an organization, we are talking about its going to take more than what I already have to maintain such a thing. As much as I dislike money and riches, just like in the business world you can't start a company without already having some kind of assets already dished out on the table. Besides, isn't that family part of the plan as well?"

"…He was a friend of your father and became a supporter of your mother's beliefs and ideals after he met her. But really though, he kind of just 'added himself' to the already existing plan."

"But even so, there was no mistake in my selection. After all, that family has been making creations that benefited the world for a long time now. And that was before they met you and mother."

"Very well, you have my consent to it. Oh, and before I forget I have received a message from the Militarized Zone of India. They wish to speak to you in person about something related to the now instinct Peace Mark organization. I highly recommend that this is something you should look into. Considering what the possible rewards that you could receive out of just showing up."

"Alright, then I'll get going right away then."

I quickly finished my lemonade drink, placed the glass on the table, and left the area with E.E.

Location: Militarized Zone of India

Several hours later I have finally arrived at one of the bases in the Militarized Zone of India. This is my first time being here but this is where several of the prototypes knightmares used in Japan a few months ago were made.

As I walked around the base I couldn't help but notice how busy everything seemed to be. Everyone here was working hard on creating some sort of weapon. Not only were knightmares being created here, but several other types of weapons ranging from ammunition, rifles, transport vehicles, and several other type of operational machinery were created here. And then all those weapons are then given out to groups that oppose other countries such as terrorist, resistance groups, and probably even mafia gangs. There is no doubt that all kinds of 'shady deals' go on around here. It's no wonder that the Militarized Zone of India could be considered the underworld where all the denizens reign at.

As I continued walking around the base I eventually ended up at the knightmare section which is where I needed to be to meet up with the person who wanted to contact me.

After several minutes of waiting I heard footsteps specifically heading in my direction. I turn towards the sound of the footsteps to see a very recognizable person. It was a woman who was obviously from Indian descent. She also had a trademark pipe hanging from her mouth while holding the end of it with her left hand.

"Rakshata Chawla…" I calmly called out the name of the woman.

"My, it has been quite some time since we last met hasn't it, Rai Sumeragi." The woman called Rakshata replied.

"So, you're the person from India who wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes, I wanted to speak with you in person and let you know that my crew finished fixing up that machine of yours a few days ago. I suppose you could say my child has been reincarnated. Think of it as an early Christmas present."

"Christmas present…? It's been a long time since I celebrated Christmas." I replied back to her.

"However, with that said there are a few things you should know. First of all, the total power output of the knightmare has been lowered by almost half of what it used to do. You should still be able to fight the Britannian's Sutherlands and Gloucesters with ease, but customized units however or a different story. You should also know that the knightmare no longer uses a radiation surger on its left arm anymore. This is because our only spare surger is equipped to the Guren Mk-II right now and we are still trying to gather more resources to create more. As much as I hate to accept it, it seems that the radiation surger is not a popular weapon since only your unit and the Guren Mk-II were the only frames who used it."

"No, that's fine…As long as I can pilot it, any set of armaments is okay is me."

"If you say so…Oh, I forget to mention this but I managed to add a little 'bonus' to your frame."

"…Bonus?" I questioned asked back in one word.

"Thanks to the data my crew has been able to gather on the float system we found in Tokyo port and whatever remained on the Gawain's float system I've been able to conjure up a new special feature for my knightmares. And since your frame is called the 'Proto-Gekka' I figured it was the most suitable knightmare to test it."

"And so, I'm supposed to be your guinea pig again to test out your stuff huh?"

"Remember what I told you before…its give and take. I'm letting you take the knightmare but in return I'm expecting you to give me some valuable data on my knightmares. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand."

"Good, and while we're at it how about you test out the new system this instant? I have an assignment for you to take right now and I also believe that you'll benefit out of it if you accept and successfully complete it."

"I'll hear it then."

"Yes, but from this point on I'll let you speak to the client about it."

As Rakshata finished her sentence she placed her pipe back in her mouth and started to walk away. In her place a young woman in dark clothing and had long hair came out of the shadows of where Rakshata headed. Once I saw the person clearly I could easily tell who it was.

"Miss X…" I slowly called out the name of the woman.

"Hi!" Miss X said with a pleasant smile on her face.

Even though that was the name she went by I knew that it was only a codename. Very few people in the Peace Mark organization go by their real name which she is a member of…or was anyways.

The group once known as Peace Mark, which was the largest worldwide terrorist organization and had links to every corner in the world, is pretty much non-existent now these days. Ever since the Black Rebellion the Holy Britannian Empire has been cracking down on terrorist activities in a more brutally fashion than they already were. Several members of Peace Mark have either been captured or killed by the Britannian Military and they only went further downhill when their main supporter, who was called the Wizard, was supposedly killed by Britannia. With the large sum of funds they received from the Wizard gone the organization failed to maintain themselves and was forced to break out into small groups. However, slowly these groups are being slowly snuffed out by Britannia's anti-terrorist factions.

"Oh, so you must be the client…" I hesitantly replied.

It has been said amongst the members of Peace Mark that whenever Miss X appears she comes with the hardest and most difficult assignments for her co-workers to complete.

"Yep, and just so you know I specifically wanted to ask you to take up this mission…Rouge Knight of Britannia…or wait, you're the Blue Knight now these days aren't you?"

Rouge Knight of Britannia…that was the name that the other members of Peace Mark called me back when I did business with them.

"So you heard about what I have been doing recently haven't you?"

"Well, I'll admit that we lost track of your whereabouts when you decided to go to Japan. After everything settled down after the Black Rebellion we sent OZ in to go look for you but after his search he came back reporting that you already left. It was only after things started to go bad for Peace Mark when I finally found some Intel on you from the Militarized Zone of India…as well as some stuff I heard Ms. Rakshata Chawla tell me about you. It seems that you are on her favorite's list."

"What does that supposed to mean?"

"It appears that she was very impressed with the way you demonstrated one of her knightmares in the former Area 11. I suppose that is also the reason why she went through the trouble to reconstruct the same knightmare you piloted. You know, you're very lucky to have a person like her for a reference for the Militarized Zone of India, considering her position and everything. Why, had it been someone else you would have been lucky enough to get a Glasgow to use on this mission I'm about to give you."

I didn't really have anything to say in response to her. Although, she continued to talk none the less.

"Still, I was kind of surprised to hear that you were one of those Black Knight operatives. So, how was that like?"

"Well, if you want my honest opinion then all the credit of what happened in Japan goes to Zero. I didn't really do anything and mostly acted as another one of his ordinary soldiers. Of course, during that time I was pretty much forced to act that way because of a gray witch I met on my first day there."

"A gray witch…?"

"In any case that's all in the past now. I was only with them because I needed their help with something and in return I helped them achieve their goal. Now I owe them nothing."

"Well, when you say it like that it sounds like the Black Knights are nothing that important. Were they really just all talk after all?"

"…To tell you the truth, besides Zero, none of them were really anything that special. Just a bunch of wild misfits who were better at complaining to Britannia instead of actually being competent fighters. It was only because of Zero that they even stood a fighting chance against the military of Britannia. Without him most of them would have probably died last summer. Considering that the bulk of the Black Knights members were local resistance cell groups or veteran soldiers from the former Japan military that speaks volumes of its own. It was really nothing I haven't already seen in other Britannian Areas. My words may be harsh but that's the cold truth of it all."

"So basically, Zero managed to defeat Britannia with a bunch of trash he found in the ghettos? That's, how should say, very impressive."

"…If you want to think of it that way that's how it went."

"Still…how big did you say your new current organization was again?"

"...Including myself it would be two people, and the one knightmare Rakshata gave me a moment ago."

"Oh my, it's hard to call that an organization with only two people you know!"

"…Maybe, but everything must start somewhere and if I succeed in this mission then…"

"Yes, I know…those remaining members of Peace Mark are free to join your group, including myself since I'm only a stand-in for India at the moment. Since Peace Mark is now officially gone I'm disposable in their eyes."

"Yes well, they'll be plenty of room for you to fit into the new Order I'm trying to build up."

"Still, I'm surprised you didn't ask some of those Black Knight members to join in…even if most of them are just sacrificial junk."

"…I'm only interested in recruiting the best people most suited for the job. Back in Japan, not one of them had the necessary skills I was looking for."

"Well, with everything you just said it sounds like there was no meaning in you going to Japan at all."

When Miss X said that I was silent for a moment before speaking up again.

"…No, there was meaning in all of it…Even if I was not suppose to be aware of it at first…I did manage to gain some knowledge and obtain some things I thought I was better off without. And now I'll use what I learned there to grow ever stronger."

"Still, what was the excuse you gave this time for leaving?"

"I told them that I would keep Britannia busy for them while they try to rebuild their country and that I was doing something for my mother."

"You're mother…but isn't she already…?"

"No, not that mother…I'm talking about the woman that you probably have seen with me on multiple occasions. She might be trying her hardest to be a replacement mother for me but in my point of view she'll always be the 'Nanny' to me…Anyways, enough of this talking…I thought you wanted to give me a mission for India, not have a social meeting with me."

"Huh, oh yes that's right. I almost forgot about it. It's just that whenever I talk about gossip like this I tend to forget everything else I'm supposed to do."

"And here I thought you were trying to keep yourself as 'mysterious' as possible towards everyone."

"Yes well, it's just that I was finally able to get a decent conversation out of you for once. Before, the most I could get out of you was a short sentence before you would shut up. I never would have guessed that the time you spent in Japan would affect you this much."

"…I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Well anyways, moving on now...The job is quite simple. Hurry and find the former Peace Mark members that are in Area 18 before the Britannian military does and bring them back here to the Militarized Zone of India. This is very important since one of them is OZ himself. He's one of those 'skilled' people you're looking for right?"

"…Yes, that's right."

"Well, I also think that's a wise decision. In fact, I wouldn't mind if he was the only one you brought back. It's not like those other two pieces of trash that are with him will be of any use to you…even if one of them is an engineer from India."

"In any case…I'll still give it my all. When does the mission begin?"

"…Effectively immediately…According to our Intel you got at best less than twenty four hours before the Britannian military founds them."

"…! You waited till now to tell me that important detail?"

"Hey, I'm only in charge of handing out the missions. I don't get to decide when I obtain them. Still, I'm sure you are already forming a plan inside that head of yours. It's always the calm, quiet guys that I find the most reliable."

"Yeah, I'll have something ready by the time I get out there…In any case, I'll be going now."

"Yes, the sooner you get the job done, the better." Miss X replied with a smile on her face that said 'good luck'.

After bowing my head goodbye I took off in a quick sprint to go fulfill my next task.

Location: Saudi Arabia (Third Person View)

"Ugh…hey, are we going to move out yet or what!?" A man of Chinese descent whined out as he sat on the ground with a bored and distressed expression on his face. His name was Ze Dien, an operative of the now disbanded Peace Mark.

"No, it still isn't safe to make any moves yet. The Britannian military is still making their rounds around our current location…Also, stop asking me that question every five minutes Ze!" A man of Indian descent bellowed as he looked out a nearby windowsill. His name was Ganabati, an engineer from the Militarized Zone of India and also used to do business for Peace Mark.

"Yeah, yeah, I understand." Ze complied.

The former members of Peace Mark were currently hiding out in an as of right now abandoned warehouse that used to hold a bounty of supplies in Area 18. They are currently on the run from the Britannian military after the group was disbanded about two months ago.

Ze then looked over at Orpheus Zevon, who was known to his comrades as OZ, and saw him sitting a few feet away from his position. Orpheus was also sitting on the floor with his back up against a container and his eyes closed.

"Geez OZ, how can you be so calm at a time like this?" Ze questioned out loud.

"It's probably because he's used to these kinds of situations." Ganabati answered.

"Yeah, I know. I've been in circumstances like these before as well but it's still very nerve-wracking to me. What, with all of these so called anti-terrorist movements or 'suppressions' as the Britannian nobles call it."

"Hmph…suppressions, that's just an excuse the Britannians made so they can kill off what they call 'useless garbage sitting around and doing nothing'. The way those barbaric Britannian nobles treat those people is just…" Ganabati grumbled.

"Yeah, they are only doing that now because of what happened in what was once called Area 11. Of course, I guess I would be pissed too if my country lost access to seventy percent of what could be considered the richest and finest resource material in the world and then take it out on what I considered to be an inferior race of people." Ze laughed out sarcastically.

"In any course, once we get to Oman it will only be a little while longer before we get to the borders of the Chinese Federation. Once there we can finally rest a little bit more easily without Britannia on our backs." Ganabati said with a sigh.

"Yeah, that is if we ever get out of this hellhole deathtrap. We are going to get there by crossing the Arabic Sea correct?" Ze asked.

"Yes, that's right."

"Even so, it's not only local terrorist and runaway numbers the Britannians are after. We are on their hit list as well, being former members of Peace Mark and all."

"Hmph…we are all that's left of what used to be the world's most wide scaled terrorist organization. It's just you, me, OZ, and Miss X left. That is, as far as we know anyways."

"Although, about Miss X…there has been no new Intel she has brought us is there?"

"Nope, nothing new…Probably because she can't risk sending new information with the possibility of Britannia channeling in on us through long distance contacts. She did say that she plans on sending reinforcements to assist us, although, there has been no sign of them yet either."

"Really though, what is the chance of Britannia finding us like this. Besides those knightmares in the back of the trailer we're carrying very little equipment on us at the moment."

"Ze, don't curse our luck saying things like that!"

"What, do you actually believe in that karma business?"

"…Just go back to watching our surroundings before…"

However, before Ganabati got a chance to finish he and Ze heard the door to the front of the warehouse slowly creak open. Afterwards they heard the sounds of several footsteps trudging into the room.

"W-What was that?" Ze cried out in fear.

Ganabati and Ze then looked from behind the containers they were hiding behind to see several people rushing into the warehouse with rifles in their hands. They were all soldiers from the Britannian military. The most unique one was the guy in the middle of them all. The way he was dressed the young man looked like a Knight of Britannia.

"Ah crap…it looks like they found our secret hideaway." Ze said with fear.

"Do you see Ze…? Look where your words got us in!" Ganabati angrily replied.

"Ze, Ganabati, let's get ready to move!" A voice called out from behind them.

The two men turned around to see Orpheus was already standing.

"You know what to do right? Ganabati, you get the trailer ready. Ze, you head for the opposite side that I'm heading." Orpheus issued out.

After Ze and Ganabati nodded to Orpheus' words the three of them heading off in three different directions within the warehouse.

Meanwhile, as the soldiers made their search throughout the storage room they suddenly stopped when they heard a gunshot go off. They turned to the sound of the gunshot to see one of their own falling towards the grounds as he was shot in the neck. The Britannian soldiers then got their muzzles ready and looked up to see Orpheus on the handrails, with a pistol aimed down at them. Before anything else happened however, another gunshot went off and a Britannian soldier got hit in the back of the head. He collapsed to the ground just like that. Half of the soldiers then turned their attention to where the new gunshot went off and saw Ze standing on the other handrail with his gun aimed down at them.

The soldiers then got their guns pointed up at the two of them and were ready to fire when Orpheus and Ze each threw two grenades down at them. The grenades went off and a white gas started to quickly spread throughout the hideout. Some of the soldiers started to cough as they had to lower their muzzles and put their hands over their mouths.

And then amongst the confusion caused by the smokescreen the sound of a vehicle just started up and started to head in the soldier's direction. The soldiers then started to jump for their life, as if they were frogs, trying to avoid being hit by the trailer that started to move throughout the smokescreen. As the trailer moved about, it splattered two soldiers head on and sent their body flailing about in the air until they slammed right into the walls. The trailer then stopped once it reached the door's exit. Once there Orpheus and Ze ran over to the edge of the handrails, jumped straight off, and landed on the roof of the trailer. Ze then went from the rooftop and crawled into the window of the passenger seat. Orpheus walked over to the back doors, opened them, and slid himself inside. Once Ganabati knew that both guys got into the vehicle he stomped his foot on the pedal and the trailer took off at mach speed.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the warehouse the man dressed as a knight and a few other soldiers walked out of the warehouse and could only watch as the trailer drove away while still coughing from the smokescreen. The knight then pulled out a trans-communicator and started to talk into it.

"_Oh, Leonard…Is that you?"_ A female voice spoke out from the other side of the communicator.

"Yes Princess Maribelle, it's me…I'm reporting to tell you that we found the terrorist members. However, I'm sorry to say that they got away. They are trying to escape from within a trailer. What do you want me to do next?" The knight called Leonard said into the communicator.

"_Don't worry; I'll take care of things from here on with the rest of the Glinda Knights along with the help of the Knights of St. Uriel. This is the perfect chance for us to gather more data on that knightmare Camelot gave us. You just continue your search of that warehouse and keep it secured for us."_

"Yes, I understand, Your Highness!" Leonard proudfully proclaimed.

* * *

As Orpheus and the others continued to move about with their trailer Ganabati suddenly swerved the vehicle to move out of the way as a slash harken almost collided with the truck. It belonged to a silver colored Sutherland knightmare frame that was remodeled for desert battle. Along with that knightmare there were seven other Sutherlands that were painted silver as well.

"Drop your weapons and surrender!" A voice from the Sutherland who fired the slash harken called out from the frame's intercom.

However, Ganabati didn't seem like he was going to comply with their demands and pushed down on his pedal again, causing the truck to flash right past the knightmares as it made its daring escape. In response, all eight Sutherlands started chasing the trailer while shooting their assault rifles at it.

"Ganabati, open the back door…I'm going out in the Byakuen!" Orpheus calmly responded as he boarded his white, customized frame.

"He's already doing that!" Ze responded as the back door slowly opened up and revealed their exit.

"Don't tell Ganabati to stop. We'll launch ourselves out as we are."

And then, while the trailer was still scurrying about like a rat being chased by a cat, Ganabati opened the container. Once opened a catapult palette loaded with a white Knightmare came out from inside. It had an unusual headpiece that would make one think of a giant beetle, and an abnormally huge right arm. This was Orpheus Zevon's exclusive personal frame, the Type-01/C Byakuen, 'The White Flame'.

"Catapult opened…Byakuen, launching!"

Through a compressed magnetic field, the Byakuen was shot out from the container. While still in the air, Orpheus transformed the Byakuen's right arm and unfolded an electromagnetic cannon.

"This is…my fang!" Orpheus roared out.

The high-pitched roar characteristic of ultra-high output electromagnetic acceleration resounded twice. Whirling up a cloud of dust whirling from the supersonic shock wave, the high-initial-velocity Tungsten armor-piercing ammunitions that were fired were guided by the aim of the Byakuen's enhanced Factspheres on its head and accurately pierced through the cockpits of four of the silver colored Sutherlands. Without knowing what had happened to their bodies, the pilots of the four Sutherlands had their flesh completely destroyed and was instantly killed.

"That crazy OZ…pulling bizarre stunts like that!" Ze commented from inside the trailer and then launched out with his own Glasgow.

It was an old-type Glasgow that he had gotten through the black market, but it was a custom model that had been given a radical tune up according to Ze's preferences. Its weapon was an electromagnetic accelerator-type double antiaircraft gun. Its power was inferior to the power of Byakuen's cannon, but with a rapid fire rate of over 2000 rounds per minute that disregards the lifespan of the gun barrel, it blew away the remaining Sutherlands.

With their enemies gone and destroyed the three of them continued on their way until they came across another blockade of knightmares. This time there was twelve silver colored Sutherlands and a silver colored Gloucester among them.

"Ah hell, they brought an official with them, didn't they!?" Ze cried out in fear.

"Ze, stay close to Ganabati's truck, we can't let the Britannians attack it. I'll serve as a diversion while you make your escape."

The Byakuen and Glasgow then made their formation as Ze stood close to the trailer while Orpheus went out and destroyed any Sutherland that dared attempted to attack them.

Two of the Sutherlands equipped with Jousting Lances tried to close in and attack the trailer with their lances. Orpheus quickly reacted in his Byakuen, pulled out what looked like a jagged knife, and got close enough to one of them to use his knife on it. He jammed the knife deep enough into the Sutherland and destroyed its energy filler. This made the Sutherland stop moving altogether. Seeing his comrade down the other soldier changed his target to Orpheus' Byakuen and tried to attack him with the jousting lance. Before he could hit him however he was shot down by Ze, who used his Glasgow's custom rifle from far away.

"Got you!" Ze shouted out as he shot the Sutherland down.

Even though two Sutherlands were shot down OZ eyes grew with panic as he saw a Sutherland with a Jousting Lance approaching the truck on the opposite side.

"No!" OZ silently screamed in his mind as he tried to make the Byakuen react in time.

However, the Sutherland suddenly exploded as it was shot down from an attack in the air. Something that looked like a knightmare then landed in the spot the Sutherland once stood. It was hard to tell what the knightmare looked like since it had a cloak that covered most of the frames' upper body and a hoodie that covered the head. It did however have something sticking out of the cloak in the back where the cockpit was. It looked like some air support system that allowed it to float in the air. The weapon it had was a handgun attached to its left wrist and a revolving blade sword in its right hand.

"Ergh…move out of our way!" One of the soldiers yelled out as he charged forward with his lance.

However, with the poorly thought out charge he made, a bright orange light suddenly lit up underneath the hoodie and the cloaked knightmare easily sidestepped to the left while hovering in the air to help with its maneuvering. It then knocked the lance out of his hand with its sword. The cloaked frame then used the handgun equipped to its left wrist and fired away at the Sutherland's landspinners.

Without its landspinners to support it the Sutherland tumbled downward and hit the ground. The soldier then had no choice but to retreat.

Seeing that an upfront assault wouldn't work the soldier of the other Sutherland decided to throw his jousting lance at the cloaked frame and started to rapidly fire with his assault rifle. However, not only did the cloaked frame dodged the lance easily but also dodged every bullet fired by the assault rifle while dancing across the air. The cloak frame then fired its handgun and shot the Sutherland's head off with a direct shot. The soldier then decided to abandon his unit and ejected the cockpit.

With the two Sutherlands gone Orpheus and the others wondered what the cloaked frame was going to do next. Orpheus prepared his Byakuen on the off chance of a fight occurring with it when he suddenly received a message on his screen. It said…

"_I will distract the Britannian military while you make your getaway…Use the map I'm about to send you and head for the destined point on it. From there your escape is guaranteed."_

Following that a map then appeared with a very detailed arrow showing the path they should follow.

"I don't know about this…do you think we should believe it OZ?" Ze suspiciously asked.

"…We're leaving." Orpheus responded.

Orpheus then made his Byakuen turn away from the cloaked knightmare and started to head down on the path indicated by the map.

"…Ergh…alright I understand. I suppose that must be the person Miss X sent us to help out. Come on Ganabati; let's leave while we have a chance."

"You don't have to ask me twice!" Ganabati replied as he drove the trailer in the direction Orpheus just took.

* * *

Once the cloaked knightmare saw Orpheus and the others leaving it turned its direction towards the Britannian soldiers still remaining.

"…Good, now to deal with the enemy commander." The pilot whispered.

The cloaked knightmare then stripped itself of its clothing and revealed itself as a blue-painted Gekka frame. The Gekka then charged straight at the enemy units.

"Sir Jordan, unidentified knightmare heading our way!" One of the remaining soldiers cried out.

"What is that…a customized frame?" Another one of the Britannian pilots wondered.

"No, that is no customized unit. It's one of those new models created by India!" The knight piloting the Gloucester shouted out.

"You mean the ones used in the Black Rebellion by the Black Knights! You think he's one of them?" Another soldier questioned.

"I'm not completely sure. The Black Knights shouldn't have the manpower to mount an operation like this all the way out here in the Middle East…Tch…damn Militarized Zone of India! They'll sell weapons to any half-cocked organization that they think will prove useful to them in the future!"

The knight's Gloucester then aimed its jousting lance in the direction Orpheus and the others went.

"Lorenzo, you take the team in that direction and finish off those terrorists! Valerie and Alan will support me while I fight that thing…Now move out!"

"Yes sir!" All the Britannian soldiers shouted.

The soldiers then took to their assigned location while the knight's Gloucester charged towards the blue Gekka. He first started off by thrusting his own lance into the air like a harpoon and then continued to charge forward, straight towards the Gekka frame. The lance lobbed itself across the air and after ramming into the Gekka it was barely able to avoid being struck down by the lance at the last second by jumping away. It then used the air wings on its back to help move backwards and then landed a safe distance away. The next thing the Gloucester did was pull out two swords.

"Now, let's try out these new MVS weapons." The knight said as the swords incased itself with a red color.

Feeling as if it was being challenged by the Gloucester's sword the Gekka also pulled out an additional revolving blade sword that it was carrying on its side and was now dual-wielding swords as well.

The two frames then met each other and collided both of their swords against each other, with sparks flying about everywhere as they continuously swung while bashing their swords against each other repeatedly. Soon though the Gekka had to jump away to avoid being shot at by the assault rifles wielding by the two Sutherlands.

"That was unnecessary you two…This guy isn't as strong as a thought he would be. Just stand back and leave this to me!" The knight order.

"Yes sir!" Both of them replied as they put down their muzzles.

The Gloucester then swung its swords up against the Gekka's weapons once again, who was being overpowered now as it barely held the MVS weapons back.

"I lost a lot of good friends who were stationed in Area 11 thanks to you Black Knight Bastards! I will make up for that by destroying you here today! This…will be your requiem!" The knight declared as he pressed harder down on the Gekka's swords.

Just when it looked like the Gloucester was going to break through the Gekka's defenses the MVS Swords started to turn into a dull red color.

"Tch…damn…The MVS system is running out of juice already. It seems it is not quite perfected yet…no matter!"

The knight then made his Gloucester kick the Gekka back with its right foot.

"Encircle the knightmare and shoot it down!" The knight ordered.

"Roger!" The two pilots of the Sutherlands replied as moved towards the Gekka on its left and right side, with their assault rifles ready to fire.

After being kicked back the Gekka quickly maneuvered itself into a fighting position again thanks to its air wing system and noticed the two Sutherlands coming after him. Before they could fire their weapons however the Gekka threw both of its revolving blade swords and got a direct hit on both of the Sutherland's main frame. Smoke started to come out of the frames and both soldiers decided to eject their cockpit, leaving the Gloucester all alone.

With both of his swords gone the pilot of the Gekka wondered how he should approach the Gloucester next. He then noticed that right next to him was the Jousting Lance that the Gloucester threw at the beginning of the fight.

"…That could work." The pilot murmured to himself.

While holding the jousting lance right in front of it with both hands, the Gekka charged straight at the Gloucester. Seeing as he knew he wouldn't be able to dodge that humungous lance he tried to make his Gloucester brace itself with his dulled swords crossed out in front of him. However, it did little to help him and the lance cracked right through the MVS swords and pierced into the Gloucester's abdomen. The knight knew his Gloucester would be exploding any minute and decided to eject in defeat.

After the cockpit left the area the pilot of the Gekka decided to drop the Jousting Lance. With all of the enemies in the area defeated the pilot of the Gekka then decided to evacuate from the area as well and left on that note.

* * *

Meanwhile, Orpheus and his group continued on down the path using the help of the map the mysterious pilot gave them. The path that the map was leading them to was a port in Oman, which was where Orpheus and the others were heading in the first place. They did run into some trouble with the remaining Sutherlands from earlier, but it was nothing that Orpheus couldn't handle with his Byakuen.

Just when the three of them started to think that they succeeded in losing their pursuers, a swallow-like shadow appeared in their path.

It was a light crimson knightmare that possessed a silhouette clearly different from the other Britannian frames. It even had an ominous dignity that hung in the air from the cape fitted onto both its shoulders and the moon shining down upon it from behind. It looked completely different from a Sutherland or Gloucester. Once Orpheus took a closer look at the frame he suddenly realized what the frame reminded him of.

Its appearance looked very similar to a knightmare that was used in East Asia within the former Area 11, the Lancelot. Orpheus remembered reading about it once in a data file. A seventh generation knightmare that surpasses most other frames. This frame must be a variant twin of it.

"What the heck are those!?" Orpheus heard Ze cry out.

Orpheus then looked at the red Lancelot to see twelve swords had appeared from within its cape. Then, it took a fighting stance with two unsheathed swords in both hands and advanced forward.

Orpheus held back Ze and went out with the Byakuen. His instincts told him that only he could be this person's opponent.

"I'll deal with this thing. You guys move on ahead." Orpheus ordered.

"Roger that, and be careful. That's no ordinary frame."

"...I know."

Orpheus unfolded his right arm's electromagnetic cannon. He fired an armor piercing bullet that flew straight ahead.

However, the enemy skillfully manipulated its legs' Landspinners and continued advancing while avoiding the bullet's path. This wasn't average knightmare piloting skill. The Byakuen folded up its gun.

At that instant, the enemy's slash came. The Byakuen jumped away to avoid the attack. Immediately after landing however the Byakuen had to jump again as the red Lancelot threw both of its sword, one directly forward and the other flew upwards diagonally. After jumping to avoid the first sword the Byakuen brought out a jagged blade to ward away the other weapon. The red Lancelot then brought out two more swords from within its cape and charged at the Byakuen once more. After the red Lancelot swung one of its new swords the Byakuen stopped the enemy's sword with its blade.

As Orpheus continued to brawl with the red Lancelot he started to notice something nostalgic about this frame.

"_This fighting style…I've seen it somewhere before…"_

Orpheus then noticed that the red Lancelot had an emblem on it that signified that it was from the Glinda Knights…an anti-terrorist group from within Britannia.

"_Oh yeah, that's right…I remember now…This Lancelot is fighting the same way as that Gloucester I fought in Area 12 that one time."_

Even though Orpheus figured that out he knew that the enemy was equal to him in both skill and the performance of its knightmare. Moreover, it was clear that the enemy's goal was to keep Orpheus here. If the fight was dragged on, reinforcements would arrive and escape would become difficult, even with help the knightmare from before gave. He had no choice but to use that system now.

"Gefjun charge complete, safety released. Reaching diffusion radiation wave critical point…Gefjun Breaker, activate!"

An impulse of elementary particles gushed out from the Byakuen. It interfered with Sakuradite on the quantum level, and stopped the movement of Energy Fillers. The Glinda Knight Knightmare lost the power to move and stalled in place on its knees. Of course, the Byakuen was the same as well.

Orpheus opened the cockpit and jumped onto the ground. He then pulled out a knife and was ready to make his next course of action. If he couldn't defeat the enemy with the Byakuen then he would simply jump them in their cockpit while their knightmare couldn't move and kill them straight-out.

As he was running over to the red knightmare Orpheus notice its cockpit open up and a person who was dressed as a knight came out, more specifically, a female knight. Of course, now these days seeing a female knight is nothing out of the ordinary. The girl quickly turned around and charged at Orpheus while brandishing a sword in her hands. Once they made eye contact with each other though both of them stopped cold stiff, with Orpheus' knife being held right in front of her neck, ready to slice it open at a moment's wake. Meanwhile, her sword was held right at his neck and his head could be chopped off at any moment. However, both of them were too shocked with surprised to do anything as they both glared at other person's face.

"Who…who are you!?" Both of them screamed out.

The words, spoken at the same time by the boy and girl that had the same face, flowed into the wind. It was almost as if time had stopped as the two of them stared at each other. Both of them felt like they were looking into a mirror of themselves. Several moments passed by until both of them heard a sound in the distance which finally caused them to stop staring at each other.

Coming from the distance was a blue colored knightmare, the same one that helped Orpheus earlier.

Seeing the dangers coming towards her the female knight took action.

"I'm sorry…please pardon me for this!" The girl apologically said as she kneed Orpheus in the gut and then took off for her knightmare.

Orpheus responded by pulling out a pistol and tried to shoot her with it but he couldn't get a good aim at her since she was behind the red Lancelot's body. Giving up on that he returned to his own frame.

"Come on, please start working…" The red knight pleaded under her breath as she tried to get the Lancelot working again.

Thankfully for her, when she plugged in the activation key the knightmare started up again. Before she got a chance to take another breath however she had to quickly pull out two new swords to block the revolving blade swords of the Gekka that was trying to attack her.

Meanwhile, once Orpheus got back in the Byakuen he noticed the Gekka attacking the red Lancelot. Orpheus quickly assumed that it was the Gekka who helped him earlier and was hiding under that cloak. He was about to join in as well when he another message appeared on his screen.

"_I'm going to create an opening for you…Use it to escape."_ The message said.

Once Orpheus finished reading it he noticed white smoke starting to leak out of the Gekka. In a matter of seconds the entire area was covered in a white smokescreen.

"This is chaffsmoke…With this; even IFF Signals will be useless…The perfect diversion." Orpheus quietly said to himself and then quickly left the area while the Gekka kept the red Lancelot busy from within the smokescreen.

* * *

Meanwhile, the blue Gekka dodged the red Lancelot's sword by activated the air wing system on its back and started to fly upward in the air, getting further away from the Lancelot's reach. The blue Gekka then fired down on the red Lancelot with its handgun, forcing the red knightmare to whirl about to move out of the line of fire. While it was moving about though the female pilot didn't notice a large slab of rock in front of her because of the chaffsmoke and her knightmare tripped over it which caused it to tumble downward onto the ground. This was the perfect chance for the Gekka to swoop in and finish the red knightmare off with its swords. Instead however, the Gekka simply fled, having already completed its duties.

After getting back up the chaffsmoke finally started to clear and the female knight found herself to be all alone now.

"Oh darn, they're both gone…"

An open channel then appeared on her comm. system.

"_Hey, are you okay…What happened out there?" _The voice said in a worried tone of voice.

"These two frames both used some kind of weird system to cause all kinds of malfunctions to happen to my knightmare. I'm sorry that I let them get away. Do you want me to try and pursue them?"

"_No, that's enough. If we try to go any further we will be heading straight into their territory. I'll just have to chalk up this operation as a failure, especially since they didn't even leave anything behind in that warehouse. We'll just have to move on with our next mission and deal with a resistance group that have been causing a lot of trouble in Yemen recently. Please report back to the Granberry as quickly as you can."_

"Yes, your Highness!" The female pilot happily replied.

* * *

About thirty minutes later Orpheus caught up with Ze and Ganabati. There he learned that they were attacked by two Sutherlands belonging to the Glinda Knights but Ze was able to deal with them somehow and protected the trailer. It appears that no more Britannian forces were going to be chasing after them and they were finally in the clear. As they headed for the southern port in Oman, Orpheus still had something on his mind.

"_That woman…she looked just like me…The same face…the same hair color…even the same eyes…So that was my twin sister huh…? I heard about her from the Wizard when I joined Peace Mark but…Even so, she is nothing but a stranger to me…And if she plans to get in my way then…"_

After contemplating to himself for a long while they finally arrived at the southern port. There they saw a single person standing on the dock with a single boat next to them. It was a young looking woman with blue hair and she was wearing what looked like a marine's uniform. Orpheus decided to go out alone and confronted the woman. When he got closer to her he felt a sense of recognition from her.

"You…you're that woman…If you're here then…the pilot of that blue knightmare must be…"

"Whatever you're thinking it is probably not too far from the truth…Use this boat to head for India…Once there 'he' will explain everything to you."

After nodding in acknowledgement Orpheus started to talk into a transceiver he had pinned into his clothing.

"Ganabati, it's safe. Load the trailer and knightmares onto the boat. We're finally going to leave this place."

OZ then turned his attention back to the woman.

"Are you coming with us as well?"

"No, I'm going to wait here for 'him'. You just go on ahead."

"…Very well."

With Orpheus' final words he helped the others get everything on the ship and then took off for India.

November 16, 2017 a.t.b.

Location: Militarized Zone of India

Once Orpheus and the others advanced into the knightmare hanger they noticed Miss X and Rakshata chatting away with each other. They stopped talking once they saw Orpheus and the others approaching.

"Ah…you're all back. I guess that means the mission was a success then." Miss X proclaimed.

"I guess so." Orpheus responded.

Orpheus then looked behind the two women to see several knightmares all lined up. There were six frames in total…A red scarlet colored Guren, four gray colored Gekka units, and a black Gekka. Miss X seemed to have noticed Orpheus' interest in it and spoke up.

"So OZ, answer me this…do you know what these six frames are?" Miss X said in a manner that made her sound like teacher.

"Well, the scarlet knightmare is the Guren Mk-II, a seventh generation knightmare that makes use of the radiation surger, an unique weapon that is its main choice of attack. It was the Black Knights who made use of this frame with their activities within the former Area 11 and I heard that its pilot was just a young woman from a local resistance cell."

"Hey, what a minute…I thought the pilot was a man." Ze asked with a confused look on his face.

"No, the pilot was definitely female." Orpheus corrected Ze.

"Wow, you might be smarter than what you are actually worth." Rakshata commented.

"Information like that is easy to find in the news or in the underworld files. As for the other five units, those are all Gekka frames, a model based on the Guren. Those were all piloted by veteran soldiers from the JLF, one of the largest resistance groups in the former Area 11." Orpheus said as he finished his report.

"Yes, you're correct OZ. However, there was also a sixth Gekka that was a test type for the other five. It also had that radiation emitter equipped to it and also…Ah, here it is right now."

As Miss X said that a blue colored Gekka with air wings entered the hanger and landed in a different section from the Black Knight frames. Instead, it parked itself next to the Byakuen and Ze's Glasgow.

"In any case…I'll leave the Byakuen, the Proto-Gekka, and the prototype air wing system in your custody Ganabati. Please take the upmost care with them." Rakshata ordered.

"Yes madam, just leave it to me." Ganabati replied.

"Oh yes, I have a quick question before I go…Uzume or Akatsuki…which sounds better?" Rakshata asked.

"Why do you ask such a question?" Orpheus said.

"I had planned on the Gekka being the mass production knightmare we will manufacture. That is why I had brought back the Guren and Gekka frames with me to India in order to make necessary adjustments to them and to continue the study of my knightmares back here at home. However, after letting other people test them out it is becoming apparent to me that they are still a little too difficult for average people to use effectively and if this keeps up I will have to develop a completely new frame. That is why I was suggesting those names for the new potential child that I might conceive."

"I see…Well if you want my opinion then I will say the Akatsuki." Orpheus confidently answered.

"Yes, that was the name I was leaning for too…Well, I must be going now."

After saying that Rakshata got up and left the hanger, leaving just the former Peace Mark members in the hanger.

They then noticed the cockpit of the blue Gekka open and a young man with silver hair came out of it. He was wearing a brown poncho with a black uniform underneath it. Once he reached the ground floor he started to walk in their direction and approached them.

"So, you're alive…" Orpheus was the first to speak.

"What, did you really think he was dead OZ?" Miss X spoke out to Orpheus.

"Hmph…When a person disappears for almost six months the cause of it could be anything. I just assumed someone like him was dead after being missing for so long."

"Yes, well he's very much alive. Now then, isn't there something you wanted to ask all of us?"

After correcting OZ, Miss X looked in Rai's direction.

"Yes…there's a favor I would like to ask." Rai replied.

"So, what is this favor?" Ganabati asked.

"I wish to join Peace Mark…to become a permanent member this time." Rai answered and got straight to the point.

"What, a permanent member? I'm sorry to say this but Peace Mark has already been demolished by Britannia. There's pretty much is no Peace Mark anymore." Ze said.

"I know…that's why I wish to get it back up and running again." Rai continued to say.

"And how are we going to do that…we don't even have funds to…"

As Ze continued to talk Rai tossed a suitcase right in front of the four of them. Inside was a case full of Britannian money.

"Inside that suitcase is an exact total of ten billion dollars. As you can see I'm very serious about the current situation."

"Whoa…Just where did you get all of this money…?" Ze said with a shocked expression on his face.

"You know…I saw him give Rakshata a similar suitcase like this earlier." Miss X added in.

"Really…Then again, he is the son of a former Knight of the Round so…He's probably loaded with all kinds of riches and fortunes just on his Britannian side." Ze said.

"It's true that the suitcase I just gave you came from my father's saving. From now on though all our funds will come in from a family that will sponsor us. However, they have asked me to keep their identities a secret so I can't tell you who they are. At most, the main guy wishes to be called Mr. Anonymous."

"So, what are trying to get out of all of this…What exactly are you trying to do?" Orpheus asked next.

"I'm sorry…but there are still not enough members in the organization yet to talk about that sort of thing. Just know this…in the organization I'm trying to build all of its members will be able to use it as a way to complete their own goals, which I'm sure all of you have one. For now we'll continue where Peace Mark left off but eventually…One of these days the group will be aiming for a much higher goal than just terrorism. But what do you all think about this? I want to hear what you guys think about all of this. I'm not forcing anyone to do anything...What happens next is completely up to each one of you individually." Rai asked as he looked at each of the Peace Mark members.

Each of them was quiet for several minutes, trying to think it over. Orpheus was the first one to answer.

"…I'm in. If it helps me get closer to 'them' then yes, I'll join."

"If OZ says he's in then I'll join as well." Miss X answered next.

"Well, I suppose it is better than having Britannia up my neck and trying to hunt me down as if I was some animal. Yeah, I'm convinced to join." Ze said.

"Rakshata has entrusted me with your knightmare and I'm very interested in how this will all play out so…I'm in." Ganabati was the last one to speak.

"Well, it looks like we're all jumping onto the same boat." Miss X said next.

"Thank you…I really appreciate it. Now, for all your roles…OZ and Ze will take care of all the missions our clients give us as well our own operations. Miss X will act as our secretary. Ganabati will fulfill the job of keeping maintenance over our knightmare and other equipment. I personally will act as our leader for the time being but that's only a temporary role. That could change to someone else at anytime should I find someone suitable for the job."

"Oh; and what about your caretaker…Is she getting involved in this too?" Miss X added in.

"She'll be our advisor…If you have any questions ask her about it. She might not look like it but she contains kinds of information in her."

Rai was then about to walk away but turned back as if he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh yes, I know I said that I was trying to help revive Peace Mark and all but…I'm changing the name of the organization."

"And why is that?" Miss X asked.

"Just as the moon always rises every night Peace Mark will also rise again tonight…Except now, it will be as the Order of the Blue Moon, a group that will slowly get stronger night by night. Now, if you'll excuse me there is paperwork I must go do for the new Order as well as for India."

"Wait a minute; shouldn't I be the one to deal with that?" Miss X called out.

"No, it's fine. I'll deal with it today. I actually got a lot of experience doing paperwork back when I was in Japan, so it's fine."

"Oh, you did huh?"

"You should focus on getting the missions ready for the rest of these guys. I'll leave it all to you."

"All to me huh…I understand."

After giving a nod of acknowledgement Rai left the hanger and left everything to Miss X.

"Okay guys, it's time to get ready for the Blue Moon Order's first mission." Miss X proclaimed.

"What, we're going on a mission already…but we just got back!" Ze questioned out loud in disbelief.

"In any case…I'll hear out the mission." Orpheus said.

"Are you serious OZ?!"

"Okay, our first assignment is to escort a truckload of highly expensive paintings for an E.U. museum."

"Wow, talk about a strange first mission. But it actually sounds like it'll be an easy assignment."

"Oh, did I mention that you'll have to do it in the middle of a warzone?" Miss X added in.

When Ze heard that it only caused to let out a sad sigh.

"Ahhh…I knew it sounded too good to be true."

"In any case we'll accept this mission." OZ confidently said.

"That is what I wanted to hear." Miss X happily said.

Orpheus and the others then got everything ready and headed out for their first mission.

Location: Unknown

It was a small office…with the room's light so dimmed that it was hard to see clearly inside. However, one person was working intently at their desk despite the room's dimness. The person in question wore a black leather mask over their head which made it difficult to identify the person based on their facial appearance since all one would see is his eyes. As he did the paperwork lined up on his desk his telephone suddenly started to ring. He carefully put his pen down to pick up the phone.

"Yes…Oh, it's you…Uh huh…Yes, I see…No, that's fine…I suspected beforehand that Oiaguro's death would lead to this so…Let my nephew do whatever he wants with them…I believe it's for the best this way…That's all…then goodbye."

After hanging up the phone the masked figure then slid a chessboard over the paperwork he was doing before. On one side of the chess board was a complete set of chess pieces all colored gold. On the opposing side was only a blue colored knight and queen chess piece. The masked figure then opened one of his desk's drawls and pulled out some more chess pieces. He then put one bishop, one rook, and two pawn chess pieces, which were all colored blue, on the blue side of the board. The masked man then removed the blue knight chess piece and replaced it with a blue king chess piece, placing it right next to the blue queen.

"Excellent…The pieces are slowly coming together…" He murmured to himself.

Chapter Preview…

_After completing several miscellaneous missions the Order of the Blue Moon receive their next assignment from India. The Militarized Zone of India wants the new Order to invade Britannia's new airship, the Avalon, and extract all the data they can find on Camelot's research. The other members of the Blue Moon Order seem hesitant about it but Rai voluntarily accepts the mission, who seems to have other reasons to board the Avalon. Together with OZ, they manage to sneak in, but what will they find once they are inside and how will they be able to escape afterwards?_

_To be continued in…_

_Act II: Inside Avalon's Nest_


	3. Chapter 2

Code Geass: The Rise of the Blue Moon

Act II: Inside Avalon's Nest

November 26, 2017 a.t.b.

Location: Holy Britannian Empire Mainland-Lake Michigan

Destroy Britannia's new-model bomber. That was the order that Miss X has given.

It appeared that the Britannian Air Force was going to roll out the prototype of a super-long-distance and high-altitude bomber equipped with the state-of-the-art Float System. If this bomber was deployed in actual combat, Britannia would obtain the means to inflict damage to every base on the earth without resupply. It was unknown who the client was. They could have been from the Chinese Federation, the E.U. or maybe even a rival manufacturer that lost in the bidding war with the military. In any case, it didn't matter as right now it was possible to rewind Britannia's world conquest schedule a little by preventing the development of this bomber.

According to Miss X's explanation, the aircraft manufacturer in charge of its development had completed the prototype's assembly work at a location belonging to them around Lake Michigan, which also happened to be Britannia's largest industrial area within the main homeland because of the large quantity of fresh water that is needed for the production of such advanced technology. That area is also full of various big and small factories that mixes munitions and private demand. It was also the place where they planned to do a manned test flight soon at an adjoining airfield.

The exact location of the mission was an industrial town that was situated next to Lake Michigan called South Haven. In a particular section within it the place was firmly guarded by the Britannian military's RAO, the Royal Aeronautical Ordinance. Most of those huge grounds were comprised of a test flight-use airfield. The Britannian military's new-model bomber would take off from this airfield and undergo various tests. The security checks on people going in and out of the facility were ranked among the highest and it would be difficult for even citizens to even so much as step foot on their grounds without permission. Even so, OZ and the others have decided on a different way of destroying the new air bomber without even going near the facility.

Using the Byakuen, OZ's unit, it was possible to aim and shoot at it from outside the guard zone.

On this site where RAO's factory and airfield were adjacent to each other, the bomber could immediately go to the taxi way when it was rolled-out of the factory. According to nature of the plan, firing at the bomber just after takeoff was the desired outcome. This was because Britannia would suspect machine trouble at first if an accident occurred with this timing, and more importantly it was expected that it would buy time for Orpheus to escape.

A plan that couldn't be accomplished without the Byakuen, that is, an ultra-long distance shot using the ultra-high output electromagnetic accelerator cannon equipped to its right arm. Certainly, with the specs of this cannon, it was perfectly possible for the target to receive the cannon shell. However, 'receiving the bullet' and 'hitting the mark' are too entirely different things.

Seen from the spot where Orpheus will fire from, the RAO's airfield is located on the other side of the horizon, in other words, somewhere that can't be directly seen without obstruction. Of course, this is natural in a normal firefight. Primarily, field guns are weapons that are meant to hit targets at a distance of 10 km, 20 km, or even further away. However, in this mission, Orpheus would be facing a moving target, and would have to aim with pinpoint accuracy. For the sake of that, Orpheus had stationed Ze at a location where it was just barely possible for him to survey the target as an observer. But this wasn't to observe the bullet impact on the target. If it was a normal bullet shell, it was possible to correct the targeting alignment using the first bullet, but this was a one-shot deal this time. Therefore, Ze's job was to get as physically close to the target as possible, and to provide data on the various factors of the bomber as it moved down the runway and on the surrounding physical environment.

It could only be called an unfortunate coincidence that two Security Guard Knightmares showed up at the empty hill where Orpheus was concealing himself. For the South Haven police forces to lose their way because of land navigation trouble while doing practical knightmare training was outside of his expectations. Moreover, it could be argued that an encounter with these Security Guards was more troublesome than meeting the Britannian regular army. Although the weapons equipped to the police-use knightmares had their power relatively restrained and their armor was light, they on the other hand had stronger than average communications functions with their disposition towards public order. If his presence here was reported, everything would come to nothing.

The Byakuen pushed aside its camouflage netting and switched his right arm's weapon from the electromagnetic cannon to the blade.

While attacking the Security Guards when they were unguarded and giving no time for them to react, Orpheus drove the blade into one of their arm sections. With a carefully calculated jab, the blow that severed the part that held the important wiring that controlled the functions of the knightmare, which was equivalent to the human spinal cord, made all its circuits, including the emergency pilot ejection system, to go silent in an instant. With this, it became impossible for the pilot to escape from his machine and call for help.

The Byakuen then turned its attention to the second Security Guard. The pilot was desperately shouting into his communications device in order to communicate this emergency situation to the outside, but the Byakuen's enhanced-type Factspheres applied jamming interference and prevented that. However, this communication jamming would in itself call attention from the surrounding area. Orpheus couldn't afford to waste time here.

The Security Guard tried to block the Byakuen's attack with its shield. The Byakuen didn't commit to the foolishness of piercing its armor with its blade. It moved its Landspinners and rammed into the shield with its shoulder. The Security Guard thrusted away its shield from the impact, and its posture was greatly destroyed as a result. The upper armor section of the defenseless cockpit was wide open. The Byakuen pierce its blade through that thin armor.

"OZ, the guest is moving."

The Byakuen received the communication from Ze, and then entered its bombardment set-up.

The bomber had begun gliding on the runway in order to take-off. Its course and velocity, the wind speed and direction of the surrounding area. Those, along with the correction of the Coriolis deviation effect from the Earth's rotation and the influence of geomagnetism, all naturally had an influence on the bullet's trajectory. Not to mention atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity level as well.

In order to maintain the gun barrel's angle of elevation, the Byakuen opened its feet wide in front and behind itself. A small tremor of the feet could also cause a great calculation error in hitting the far off impact point. The several voltage stabilization circuits that had been specifically expanded for the sake of this operation perfectly restrained the output fluctuation of the electromagnetic cannon.

"This is…my fang."

Whispering that, Orpheus quietly pulled the trigger. The high-pitched roar of the cannon resounded, and a precision bombardment-use special bullet was fired at supersonic speed towards the far off target. Orpheus could vividly imagine the form of the bullet plunging forward towards the target which he himself couldn't see. The bullet would run up to the sky above, and drawn a parabola with its path and then fall downwards. In its path should be Britannia's bomber. That huge mechanical bird, without realizing the destruction that was approaching from above, would have succeeded in its takeoff by now. As he transferred from gliding to ascending, a smile of relief would appear on the pilot's face. At that moment, the 72mm Sakuradite explosion shell landed.

Even before he heard the report from Ze, Orpheus knew that the mission was completed and that it was time to return to the hideout.

Location: ? (Rai's POV)

As I was working quietly at my desk I heard several knocks on my door.

"Hello, it's me…May I come in?" A voice echoed from the other side of the door. The voice belonged to Miss X.

"Yeah, the door is already unlocked." I replied back.

I then looked up to see the door slowly open and saw Miss X walking into the room with a file full of papers.

"What's in the file?" I asked Miss X as I peered at the file in her arm.

"Oh, just all the information about our next assignment from India, that's all." Miss X passively said.

"I thought I already told you to just go straight to OZ and Ze about all of our missions instead of confronting me about it first. We accept any and all missions or tasks that are given before us."

"I know that but I believe that the Militarized Zone of India has really hammered us with a big one this time. Take a look at it." Miss X answered as she laid the file on my desk.

I opened the file, picked up the front paper, and quickly glanced through it before putting it back down.

"Tell OZ and the others to get ready for the next mission. Even if it's a mission with high risks involved we'll still go out there to get the job done."

"So that's your answer…Very well…Oh; and what is that letter for…" Miss X asked as she slanted her eyes down at the single letter that I was working on in front of my desk.

"Oh this…It's just something I have written for a friend back in Japan." I calmly replied.

"What, you mean you actually have 'friends' now…especially the kind that are more than just small 'acquaintances' or comrades-in-arms?" Miss X teased in.

"…Very funny." I inactively answered back while closing my eyes.

"Oh, I'm just messing with you. Still, why take the time to handwrite a letter…wouldn't it be much faster to send an e-mail instead?"

"Yes, it would. However, I believe that writing a letter by hand proves to the other person how significant and refined the message I wish to send them is rather than just sending it through the Internet. It holds more substantial value that way."

"Yeah, I think I understand what you're saying."

"In any case, you go on ahead. I'll be there shortly."

"Okay then." Miss X finished saying and then left through the door.

After she left I spent a few more minutes writing my letter. When I was finished with it I opened a drawl on my desk and slid the letter inside. I then stood up and left the room as well.

Location: Harrington, Delaware

After OZ and Ze returned from their mission at Lake Michigan they placed their knightmares inside Ganabati's trailer for maintenance and repairs. The two then set out to look around at what was now a crumbled, barren, wasteland of what used to be a town.

"Geez, just look at this place…It looks like a ghost town. In fact, it almost reminds you of one of those Ghettos in the numbered Britannian Areas, don't you think so?" Ze commented.

"…Yeah…It almost reminds me of another place I know." OZ responded with sorrow in his voice as he flipped over a stone with his foot.

"But then again, I guess that is why they call this place 'Harrington's Cemetery' now. It's been said that not only were all the citizens in this town were killed but the ones who instigated the attack were all killed as well. Now that's just freaky. Especially since nobody seems to know why the town was attacked in the first place. Do you think it might have been caused by a group of homicidal maniacs or maybe even a mafia gang?"

"I don't really know anything about that…but I do know that since Britannia doesn't involve themselves with this town it makes the perfect hideout for any anti-Britannian organization in their homeland." OZ said.

"You got that right! It seems that Britannia has abandoned this place for whatever reason so that makes things a little bit easier for us."

As OZ and Ze continued to make small talk they eventually heard the sounds of footsteps heading in their direction. They looked beyond to see it was Miss X.

"Hi, are you guys ready for the next mission?" Miss X pleasantly said.

"What…But we just got done with an assignment! Give the weary a chance to rest for once." Ze whined out.

"Yeah well, don't you know Ze; we of the Blue Moon Order are very busy people."

"In any case, I'll hear the details of the request." OZ calmly said.

"That's what I wanted to hear! Now, for your next mission…"

Miss X then started to explain the details of their next assignment.

"…So, did you get all of that?" Miss X finished saying.

"Are you really serious about this?" Ze said in disbelief.

"For just a data gathering request it sure does have the highest caliber of risk involved in it." OZ admittedly said.

"Yeah, even the Militarized Zone of India thought so, and they are the ones giving this assignment to us. Of course, they are also not expecting much out of us in this mission. Think of it as one of those really difficult optional requests from those online games you guys play." Miss X said with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, but the difference here is that this isn't a game…this is real life we're talking about here and if something were to go wrong…" Ze started to say.

"Even so…that won't stop us from going in there and successfully completing this mission." I said as I appeared out of nowhere.

"But still…are you serious?" Ze exclaimed.

Rai however just ignored his last question.

"Miss X, did you tell them all the mission details?"

"Yes, I already did that, exactly as you wanted me to."

"Then you all should know what we're going to do then. The directive of this assignment is to board Britannia's recently built airship, the Avalon, and find as much data on it as possible."

"It seemed that Miss Rakshata Chawla became very intrigued in that floating airship the moment she first laid eyes on it." Miss X said.

"Yeah, they also want us to find any data on Camelot's inventions that might be stored in Avalon's databanks. In any case, Miss X, are you sure that all the information that you've received was reliable?"

"Yes, as far as I know all the information I gathered from India seemed to be very accountable. But what I want to know is how exactly are you going to get in, not to mention get of a place like that undetected?" Miss X questioned.

"Yeah, trying to sneak into a place like Britannia's first flagship is going to be much more difficult than the place that we couldn't sneak into our last mission in Lake Michigan." Ze added in.

"Don't worry…I have a plan." I calmly said.

"Oooh, you have a plan set in that head of yours already? Well this should be good…especially since whenever you make a plan it always works out in the end, ninety-five percent of the time anyways." Miss X cooed out.

"With the scale of a mission like this I will be the one who goes out this time…OZ will be my backup. That's okay with you isn't it?" I asked as I turned my head in OZ's direction.

"Of course it's fine…Just tell me exactly how to carry out the request." OZ responded.

"Yeah, I'll be counting on you…especially since you and I are the only ones who have a chance of succeeding in this mission by using our Britannian heritage."

"Hey, what a minute! Rai, I thought you were also half Eleven…ahem…!" Miss X started to say but quickly coughed when she realized an error she said in her words.

"…I meant to say…Japanese." Miss X correctly said.

"…Don't worry about something trivial like that. I'm not like most of those people who snap at others for being called their designated area number."

"Geezs, don't you have any sense of humility?"

"And besides, for this mission I'm going to have to ditch my Japanese heritage for a while."

As I said that I started to move my hand over the top of my head, pushing my hair down. In a matter of seconds, I had my hair combed downward; making it look like it was in a Britannian hairstyle.

"Now, all we need is the perfect disguise…"

I then handed OZ a set of clothes and we both went off in separate direction to go get properly dressed. About ten minutes later we both appeared again with our new uniforms.

"So, how do we look?" I asked Miss X as OZ and I stood up straight.

"Wow, you both look handsome in those uniforms. I'd even say you two look better in those clothing than the real Britannian soldiers…Ray Summers and Oliver Parks."

As Miss X commented on our Britannian military uniforms she giggled when she took a look at the names of our fake ID's that were attached to our uniforms.

"In any case, we'll be beginning our mission in eighteen hundred hours. Make sure everything is set by then." I ordered.

"Of course." Miss X said.

I then turned around and started walking outside of the devastated town.

On the outskirts of town I headed in the direction of a lone tree that was on top of a small hillside. The tree in question had already lost all of its leaves and just looked old and withered, just like everything else in the area, it all looked colorless. Standing by the tree was a single woman who wore her traditional silver coat. It was E.E. She just stood there while gazing up at the full moon in the night sky. When she heard me approaching the woman turned her head towards me for a second before looking back up at the sky. All the while with her blue hair flailing in the cold breeze that blew by.

"Do you remember this spot? This is where the four of us used to go at night to look up at the stars and moon. Of course, back then everything was much livelier around here."

"Four of us…?"

"Yes; you, myself, your mother and your sister would always come out here to stargaze and get a good view of the night sky. Those were some of the most wonderful times weren't they?" E.E. continued to say.

I then tilted my head upward at the sky to see several stars sparkling in the night atmosphere as well as the moon glowing brightly.

"…Yeah, those were some nice times. But that's all in the past now. I don't care about looking up at the stars or the moon anymore. If that was all you wanted to say then…there are a few things I need to say to you as well."

"What…Is there something you need from me?" The woman asked as she looked back over at me.

"E.E., I just wanted you to know that the next mission has come up. It's a pretty dangerous one so I'll be going out this time."

"I see…do you need me to come along with you as well?" E.E. replied back.

"No, that's fine…Although, I'll most likely have to use 'that power' this time."

"Of course, you're free to use 'that power' in any way you wish. However, don't ever forget what I told you about Geass. Don't ever assume that 'power' is yours. It is merely strength granted to you by our contract to help you succeed in granting my wish. If you ever start thinking that Geass is your power alone then…well, I believe that foolish Britannian Prince provided an excellent example of what happens to those who abuse what they think is their 'power' and lose control of it."

"…I won't use it any more than I have to…and I'll have OZ with me as well so…"

I then turned around and started to walk away. Before I got far though I felt someone's arms wrapping themselves around me from behind as well as resting their head on the top of my back. I knew that it was E.E.

"Good luck…and make sure you come back safely now, you hear me?" E.E. softly said.

"…Yeah."

When she heard my response E.E. slowly let go of me and watched on from on top of the hill as I left the area.

Location: Avalon Base

The directive of our mission was to gain information on Britannia's new airship, the Avalon. The best way to do that however was to get aboard the main ship itself and scrounge out any info we could find. The problem with that however, lies with how to gain entrance inside and make a clean exit, all without getting caught or arousing the guard's suspicion.

Currently, the main flagship itself was located at a Britannian air base in California. If the information we were given adequate and liable then the Second Prince of Britannia, Schniezel el Britannia, should be in the Arizona region right now along with most of his higher up security agencies. This meant the only people in and outside the Avalon are maintenance people and the guards of the Californian air base, leaving it at its most unsecured position as well as being the best time for us to make our little invasion.

"So, which one of us is going to use it?" OZ asked as we made our way to the entrance of the base.

"In this situation mine is the more effective one to use. Here, put these on."

As I said that I handed OZ a pair of earplugs.

"A gift from E.E. From this moment on we'll move by sign language."

OZ just nodded to my response and accepted the earplugs. He then placed one in both of his ears. Now, any Geass ability that works by sound should be completely nullified to him. Which means he won't be able to 'hear' what I'm about to do next.

Once we reached the entrance the guard sitting inside the security box opened the window and held his head out.

"And you two are…?" The gate guard question.

"Right…I am Warrant Officer Ray Summers and this here is my fellow partner…Warrant Officer Oliver Parks. We have been dispatched from one of Prince Schniezel's security agencies to come here and provide support of the daily patrols of the Avalon."

As I finished giving my reasons for being here the guard in the box just stared at me with a look of suspicious doubt in his eyes.

"Oh yeah…then can I see some proof to verify what you just said. Because I never received any such Intel from headquarters about this. Before I can let you inside I need to see some papers or something of the sort." The guard said as he sat back in his chair with his arms crossed.

"Ah, proof you say? Sure, I have your 'proof' right here."

As I said that my right eye, which was always blue, turned into a violet color and a bird like sigil appeared along with it. A red orb then encased the area around us and the guard now had a red circle around his eyes.

After spending a few more minutes of discussing things with the guard he 'willingly' complied with my demands and opened the front gates so OZ and I could enter.

"There you go…good luck in there guys." The guard happily said.

"Thank you…I really appreciate it." I sarcastically answered back.

After thanking the still geassed guard OZ and I went through the gates and entered the air base. Once inside, we came across two more guards standing in front of the entrance to the Avalon. One of them radioed the guard I geassed outside and after getting all the details from him they had no choice but to allow us onto the airship. Since they actually believed the geassed guard's story I didn't need to use my special power on them. The two guards then moved out of the way and allowed us onto the Avalon.

As soon as we were inside the main airship itself, I first took the opportunity to make sure no one else was around. Once I was sure that we were the only ones there I held my right hand out and made a sign with my fingers, with my index and middle fingers sticking outward while my thumb was pointed upward. It was pointing down the right side of the hallway.

When OZ saw that he immediately understood what it meant and gave me a nod of agreement. He then took off down the right side of the hallway. I then turned my back against him and walked down the opposite side of the hallway. Now the real operation can begin. Not only that, but there was somebody that I was looking for outside of the main operation. A person named Suzaku Kururugi.

It's been two hours since we infiltrated the Avalon. Although to me it felt like it has been several hours to find out some information and details from the other soldiers and workers on this airship. Since I was wearing a Britannian uniform and wore my fake ID on my clothing I was able to communicate effectively with them without having to resort to using Geass.

From what I gathered it appears that Suzaku wasn't on this ship at the moment and wasn't going to return for several days. At the moment it seems that Suzaku has gone to Area 2 to deal with the high increase in terrorist activities in that area as well as test out the repaired Lancelot that the Camelot group recreated for him. Since I don't have much time to spare here and can't wait that long for him I will have to abandon that task and just leave a message or note here for him. In any case, I'll return to my original mission and find as much data on this airship as I can.

As I continued my search of the place I eventually came across what appeared to be one of the airship's main control rooms. There were two people inside working on their computer screens. I decided to enter and kindly 'asked' them to leave. They complied with my simple request and left the room, leaving this space all to myself.

I then sat down in front of one of the computer system, and using the card key I got from one of the guys that just left, I was able to easily bypass any security measures and was able to freely look at all the Britannian files that were stored here.

After spending quite a few minutes looking through several of Britannia's secret files I eventually came across a folder that contained info on Camelot's research projects, which was one of the things the Militarized Zone of India wanted me to look for. Inside the folder I found information on several of their prototype systems and weaponry; the Float System, the Blaze Luminous system, the MVS weapons, the Varis rifle, even data for constructing the original Lancelot frame was there.

"Interesting…"

I then placed a disk into the computer and started copying all of the files related to Camelot onto the data disk. As I was doing that I continued to look through more of the files not copied yet until I found a folder that irked my interest. Once I saw what the folder contained I was surprised at what I just found.

"This folder contains the blueprints of a knightmare…Interesting…However, I won't put this on the data drive…Instead…"

I then retrieved my data disk out of the computer and plugged in my own jump drive to retrieve the data of the blueprint of that frame. It was also around that time that I heard someone walking into the room. Since I didn't have any of my swords or blades on me I turned around while activating the only weapon I had, my Geass, in my right eye. I quickly deactivated it though when I discovered it was just OZ coming in alone. I pointed my finger at my ears signaling him to take them off so I could speak to him.

"So, did you manage to find anything?" I abruptly asked him.

He responded by whipping out his own data disk in the middle of two of his fingers.

"I couldn't find any direct info on the Avalon but I did manage to scrap up data on the mass production of two similar, smaller airships based on the Avalon. They were called the Caerleon and Logres, respectively. And you?" OZ finished saying.

"I didn't find any data on the Avalon either. But I did find records on some of Camelot's other inventions. Hopefully that will make up for not finding what I was supposed to get."

OZ then walked over and stood next to my seat. He then noticed that my jump drive was plugged into the computer with my data disk placed next to the keyboard.

"Planning to keep some information to yourself?"

"Hmph…It would just be foolhardiness for a group like ours to put complete faith in a place like the Militarized Zone of India. Especially since our relationship with them is strictly business correlated. Besides, it's not like Rakshata is the only person I am acquainted with who knows how to create efficient knightmares. There is a friend of a friend that I know who will be able to create a knightmare like this with these blueprints.

Once I successfully transferred the all the blueprints onto my flash drive I exited out of the window and was ready to abandon the room when I noticed that there was still an unused window that was temporarily minimized. I wondered what webpage it was on and decided to reopen the window. The reopened window then revealed what looked like a long list of names. I scrolled up to the top to see what website this was on to see the title that said, Temple Tower.

"Temple Tower…Hmmm…that's the place where Britannia's, as well as the world's, most wanted criminals are sent after they are captured…I wonder…OZ, do we have time to spare to take a look at this…before we will have to leave?" I asked.

OZ then looked at a nearby clock before giving me a response.

"We have just enough time to take a quick glance at the list." That was his answer. He seemed interested in looking at the list too for some reason.

With OZ's response, I started to scroll down through the list of names out of curiosity. As we looked at the names listed OZ seemed to have recognized several of the names listed down.

"There sure do seem to be several members of Peace Mark on this list…Though I'm not surprised." OZ commented.

What he said was true. What better place to store away members of the world's largest terrorist organization than Temple Tower. Although, the members that were on this list were only people who worked in the offices or handed out assignments for the clients. I'm sure that the ones who directly fought and issued commands were already executed.

"However, trying to break into a place like that is too risky in my point of view. There's no reason to try and add them to the Blue Moon Order." OZ honestly said.

"Yeah, I know." I said in agreement,

I then decided to continue scrolling down the list until there was one name that stood out to me.

"…Naoto Stadtfeld…Stadtfeld…I heard that surname somewhere before."

The name seemed to have kept ringing in my head until I finally understood where I heard it before. Yes, 'she' is supposed to be, at least genetically, a member of that family.

"Someone you know?" OZ asked from behind my seat.

"I never met him directly but…I heard stories about him during my time in Area 11. Apparently, he was a leader of a local resistance cell in Area 11."

"…That's it?"

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Why was someone like that thrown into a prison cell in a place like Temple Tower? Well, I would like to know the answer to that as well. I mean, yes, he was regarded as an excellent sniper by all his friends and family but, besides that neither he nor his resistance cell was that much of a real threat to Britannia. And even though he was captured, why drag him all the way back to the homeland just to throw him into the deepest depth of the world's largest prison. It doesn't make much sense to me."

I then sat back in my chair and closed my eyes as I took a deep breath before looking back at the computer screen.

"In any case, to the average person this information is completely irrelevant. However, I find it to be interesting so I'll be keeping this list here as a piece of reference for the future."

As I finished saying that I quickly saved the list to my jump drive and then ejected it. After closing out the window I finally stood up.

"Okay, I think we spent enough time here on this airship so let's move to the next phase and make our exit. Oh, but before that…"

Almost as if I just remembered something I brought out a piece of paper and a pen and sat back down again.

"You go on ahead. I need to write something up here very quickly. We'll be meeting in the hanger right?" I promptly said.

"Yeah, I already have everything set up in there. I'll be waiting."

As OZ finished saying that he left the room in quick haste.

"Hmmm…He said everything was already set up in the Avalon's Hanger…I can only wonder whose face he used this time in order to get something like that set up so quickly."

As I wondered something to myself I spent a few minutes writing on a piece of paper. Once I was finished I stuff the paper into an envelope. I then stood up and left the control room as well. Once there I started to scurry down the hallways as fast as I could.

* * *

As I was running down the halls however I collided into someone as I was cutting the edge of a corner. Both me and the other person I crashed into both fell to the floor. Also, while I didn't notice it my disk that had data on Camelot also fell out of my uniform's pocket. I looked forward to see it was a girl my age and had long pink hair.

"I…I'm sorry that I…Here, let me help you up. I hope I haven't caused you any harm." I said apologetically as I immediately stood back up and offered my hand out to her. I was still working undercover and had to speak in a subtle, more lenient tone of voice instead of the way I usually sounded.

"N-No…I'm fine…really…Although you really shouldn't be running down these narrow hallways the way you were." The girl replied as she accepted my hand and lifted herself upward.

"Y-Yeah, I suppose you're right." I said in acknowledgment.

As I was helping her up though we both heard a small cracking noise on the floor. The two of us then looked down to see my data disk underneath the heel of the girl's shoe. The disk in question was snapped right in half, making it completely ineligible.

"Oh dear…I'm terribly sorry for that! I hope it wasn't anything too important." The girl said with a remorseful look on her face.

When she turned towards me I finally got a good look at her face. However, when I did it brought fear inside me as I felt I recognized the face, especially her light lavender colored eyes. I then tried to make myself as calm and collected as I possibly could.

"…No, it's fine. There was nothing that important on the disk anyways. But still you…you wouldn't happen to be the Third Princess of Britannia, Euphemia li Britannia, now would you?"

"Huh…well…yes, that would be me." The girl named Euphemia said in an almost saddened tone.

Just as I feared, it was her. This wasn't good. I already geassed her once before so I can't use that power again on her. I wonder, does she recognize me from that one time in Area 11. I already had myself prepared for a situation like this by making my physical appearance as indistinguishable as possible from my normal look but it was hard to say as it appears she doesn't recognize me…Still, the longer I continue to stand here and talk with her the more likely that her memory might kick back in. However, this might also be an opportunity here for me.

"So, that means Suzaku Kururugi is your knight, correct?" I said as I continued the conversation.

"Y-Yes, he is."

"Oh, I'm sorry…we been talking for a while now I didn't even introduce myself. I am Warrant Officer Ray Summers." I smoothly said as I extended my hand out to Euphemia.

"Ray Summers right? What does a Warrant Officer such as yourself want with Suzaku?" Euphemia asked.

I then brought out an envelope.

"You see, I have been asked to give Sir Suzaku a message from the top brass that he needs to read. But, as I'm sure you know, he is not aboard this airship at the moment and I don't exactly have time to wait for him to show up. And since Suzaku is your knight I'm sure you will come across him before I get a chance to so…I was wondering if you could give this message to him in my place. I've been told that he needs to read it as soon as possible so…"

Before I could finish my sentence Euphemia walked over and lightly placed her hand on the envelope.

"Don't worry…I'll make sure he gets this message the next time I see him." She said with a soft smile on her face.

"Y-You will…? That would be just great." I said in a yielding, but still glad voice.

Once she got a hold of the message I started to walk past her.

"Well then…since this matter is in your hands I think I'll be going now. Please excuse me, Princess."

I then started to speed-walk past her as quickly as I could but was then frozen in place once Euphemia called out to me.

"Wait…! Can I ask you something very quickly?" Euphemia said in an almost loud tone of voice.

"Y-Yes, what is it?" I cautiously said as I slowly turned around.

"Can I ask for your opinion on something?"

"…You want to hear the opinion of some random Warrant Officer?"

"I think everyone's opinion is worth listening to. So, would you please hear me out?" Euphemia pleaded with her simple request.

"…I'm listening." I said as I walked back over to her.

"The SAZ I tried to set up in Japan…was it really the right thing to do…was it really going to bring about peace in the way I wanted to?"

When I heard Euphemia say that I quickly formed a serious look on my face as I stared at her.

"Well, that's a pretty serious question there…This is just the prattling of a random nobody but, while I believe that you had the best intentions in mind your plan itself would have fallen apart on its own in a short amount of time down the road, with or without Zero's interference."

"Is that really so…?" Euphemia said with a sad look on her face.

"I don't believe you were wrong…but I do believe that you were trying to put a little too much faith in everyone getting along with each other peacefully. It's not that simple or easy to make every single person happy…In fact, that's practically something impossible to accomplish."

"Yeah but…I just wanted everyone to be happy without having any fighting occurring. Is it really that bad to think in that sort of way?"

"…Like I said, I don't believe that you were in the wrong and its okay to have some idealist beliefs. However, trying to enforce peace onto others from high above can be just as evil as starting fights and battles…and that can lead you to become just as bad as or worse than the rest of your family."

When Euphemia heard my last statement it caused a stunned look to appear on her face and she gotten very quiet all of a sudden.

"Umm…did I say something to offend you Princess…Because if I did I deeply apologize for it." I sincerely said.

"N-No, it's fine…I think I understand what you're saying. It's just…What you just said sounded very similar to what my brother told me a few months ago."

"…Brother?"

"Yeah, you also had the same expression on your face when he said it. In fact, while I didn't notice it at first but somehow I can't help but feel that I've seen you somewhere before…No, that's not right."

"W-What do you mean by that."

"What I meant to say is…It's more like I heard your voice somewhere before…and very recently too."

I just stared intently at her at first before deciding to answer.

"I…don't think that's possible Princess. This is the first time I've met you face-to-face like this. Sorry…but I think you have me confused with somebody else and…"

"Ah, there you are Princess Euphemia." A voice called from the other end of the three way hallway.

I looked down the hall to see who and was and found out it was someone that brought even more fear in me than seeing Euphemia. It was a member of the Knights of the Round, and more specifically, it was the Knight of Nine, Nonnette Enneagram. What was she doing on this ship, and for what reason? I don't remember hearing anything about her in Miss X's Intel. Then again, the Knights of the Round are free to act about as they wish, outside of the military's own jurisdiction. Even so, I can't afford to be seen by the likes of her here. My face and voice would be too easily recognized by the likes of her and the other older members of the Round Table even with a disguise on.

With every step the Knight of Nine was making towards us, the higher my pulse of impulse was starting to well up inside me.

"S-Sorry Princess Euphemia, as much as I would like to continue talking with a Princess of the Imperial Family I really must continue on with my other duties. So, please excuse me."

I then started to speed walk past her once again.

"W-Wait Ray, there are still things I wish to talk to you about."

Euphemia then stretched her hand out to me, trying to grab my arm but I quickly dodged it and continue on my way down the opposite side of the hallway.

"Like I said Princess, please excuse my rude behavior but I must be on my way." I said as I got farther away from her.

* * *

Euphemia just sadly watched as I got further down the hallway.

"Oh, and there were still many things I wanted to talk to him about." Euphemia reluctantly proclaimed.

"You know…you're very good when it comes to sneaking off without anyone's permission." Nonnette admittedly said once she came up to Euphemia.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I just wanted to take one last look around the place before I finally this airship."

"Nah, it's alright. That's fine and all but your older sister wanted me to make sure you were safely escorted back to the Imperial Palace. So, shall we be on our way now that you got a final sightseeing done?"

"Yeah, I'm ready to go now."

"By the way, who was that soldier you were speaking to earlier?" Nonnette curiously asked.

"Oh, it was just some Warrant Officer."

"Just some Warrant Officer huh?" Nonnette said as she looked down the hallway.

As she said that she saw the soldier down the hallway make a quick turn at the nearest corridor, and for a brief moment, saw the warrant officer's face. He had blue eyes and silver hair that intrigued Nonnette for a brief moment.

"That soldier…He looks kind of like…No, that couldn't possibly be…" Nonnette started to murmur.

"Umm…Is there something troubling you." Euphemia called out.

"Huh…Uh…no, it was nothing. Just thinking to myself. Come on now, we must get going now." Nonnette said as she was snapped out of her thoughts.

Nonnette and Euphemia started to walk down another hallway.

* * *

After I somehow manage to elude both the Third Princess of Britannia and the Knight of Nine I arrived at the hanger where OZ was waiting, who standing by the handrail.

"I apologize for being so late. I got caught up in something and it was difficult for me to get past them without giving my identity away."

I then looked down to see only two knightmares in the hanger.

"So, those are the knightmares you managed to secure from them?" I asked.

"Yeah, those are Camelot's most recently created knightmare…They are called the RPI-13b Sutherland Club."

I then looked back down at the two knightmares once again. I could definitely see the resemblance of the two knightmares. They most definitely did look like some kind of combination of the Sutherland and the Z-01 units. While the body structure looked more similar to a normal Sutherland, the other parts such as the head and the weaponry looked more similar to what the Lancelot and Lancelot Club use. It's painting structure even looked similar to the Lancelot's, although at the same time I also couldn't help but notice that one of the frames had a color scheme similar to OZ's Byakuen and the other's color scheme looked very similar to painting job of my Proto-Gekka, albeit it was a much darker blue though. The technology on these frames will also make a nice replacement for the loss of the data disk I had.

OZ had already sorted out our escape plan. Since he talked the other people on this ship into believing that we were going out to do some field testing with the two Sutherland Clubs our escape was already secured.

We each got into the knightmare of our respective color and shot ourselves out of the hanger's dropouts. When we got to front gates we were able to easily get past the gate guard thanks to the Geass commands I implanted in him when we first got here. Once we were past the gate we went down the road normally until we were completely out of the facility's sight and then started to cut a path down in the outside forest.

* * *

As we were cutting down through the forest, making our way through the final phase of my plan, we were moving along normally until I noticed something in the corner of my eye. I stopped my frame and looked down from the top of the forest hill I was on to see a campsite at the bottom of the hill. I thought it was strange to see a campsite in a place like this so I stood where I was to see whose campsite it was. Thanks to the trees surrounding me I was able to hid myself well without being seen by those on the bottom.

And then, I saw several people walking out of their tents while rolling what seemed to be knightmare sized canisters of oil in them. I just sat there thinking what they could possibly be trying to do with something like that when it suddenly hit me.

They must be planning on starting a forest fire here. I always remember back when I lived in Britannia about hearing and reading the news about how easy it is for forest fires to occur in this particular area of the homeland, with or without human interference. This meant that these guys must be a terrorist group from somewhere that is trying to do just that. It also wasn't that far from where the Californian airbase is either so I knew what their likely target was. I could just let them do as they please and allow them to burn this forest and let it spread to the Californian airbase but…

"We're going to interfere." I spoke into the communicator.

"Are you sure, this wasn't part of our planned assignment." OZ said over his transmission.

"Well, it is now. Normally, I would sympathize with them on how Britannia has probably mistreated their kind but neither do I approve of them causing forest fires and destroying life."

"Since when did you become a preserver of wildlife, or is this just your knightly attributes kicking in again."

I just ignored his comment.

"Now, if only I knew what group they were from it would help me in determining how to approach this."

"They are from the El Diablo group from Area 3."

El Diablo…? That was the largest terrorist faction in Area 3. Although, it wasn't like they were the most dangerous group there was as the only thing they were good at was stealing money from the homeland and smuggling back to Area 3 as a way to support their families in the ghettos.

"How do you know that?"

"Look over there." OZ said as he made his Sutherland Club point beyond the area where the tents were.

I then saw several Glasgows in a secluded area of their own. Except I noticed that these Glasgows were all repainted to look like the straw of a scarecrow. The heads were also remodified and had what looked like a sombrero on them. They were equipped with a customized bazooka type weapon on their arms and held what looked like a knightmare sized pitchfork in their hands. I could only imagine that the pitchforks were used to strike the cockpits of other knightmares instead of the frames themselves.

"So, how do you want us to approach this?"

"Well, it doesn't look like they are fully ready yet so if we destroy their knightmares, which is probably their main manpower of carrying the canisters around, then we can probably stop the rest of them easily."

I then started to tell OZ my plan and made him get in the desired formation I wanted him in. Since his Sutherland Club was equipped with an assault rifle that could switch from normal mode into a sniping type of range that could also shoot out grenades. He would be the first one to attack.

After I gave the order OZ pulled the trigger and shot a grenade out of his assault rifle.

"This is my fang." OZ whispered.

And without the Threes being aware of what was about to hit them, an explosion went off behind them and they saw three of their Glasgows blown to pieces. This caught their attention immediately and they started yelling manically as several people in the remaining Glasgows started them up and braced themselves for my next assault.

I rolled down the hillside with my Sutherland Club and brought out my weapon, which was a Jousting Lance that was being powered up by my Blaze Luminous system, and started firing several MVS powered particle shots from the tip and edge of my lance. With this I was able to take down three more Glasgows with my initiative strike. Once I took down a good number of them I stopped firing and prepared myself to defend from their attack.

As the remaining Glasgows raised their bazookas and prepared to fire I made my Sutherland Club raise its arms and form a green colored shield in front of my frame, hoping to block the attacks completely.

However, when the blows contacted my shield, it was apparently strong enough to burst my shield as if it was a bubble and more blasts pursued, pushing my frame back and knocking my knightmare down upon direct contact.

Several Glasgows then approached my frame and prepared their pitchforks, aiming at my cockpit.

Just then, OZ jumped off the hill and appeared right in front of me. He made his Sutherland Club form what seemed to be a cone shaped blaze luminous shield that completely enveloped both his and my frame. The enemy Glasgows tried attacking it with their pitchforks but that only served to push them back as if their pitchforks were hitting a completely solid rock.

They then tried firing their bazooka weapons but that failed to serve them any better as unlike with the blaze luminous system of my Sutherland Club, OZ's cone like shield was more powerful and sturdier.

"I'm going to create an opening here. Use it to finish the rest of them off." OZ said over the communicator.

"…Right." I replied as I got my Sutherland Club back up and held my red color coated Jousting Lance in front of me.

Once the Glasgow frames backed off a fair distance OZ uplifted the shield and immediately blasted a shot out of his assault rifle. It came into contact with the Glasgow that was closest to him and blew it down to pieces. I then jumped over OZ's Sutherland Club with the help of my landspinners and charged towards a Glasgow with my Jousting Lance. I managed to snap the Glasgow's legs off with the lance, causing the rest of the frame to tumble down with the cockpit forced to eject.

I then went after another Glasgow that tried to blast me down with rapid fire shots from his bazooka. I swirled around every shot fired and when I was close enough to the frame the pilot of the Glasgow stopped firing the bazooka and instead thrusted its pitchfork towards me. I responded with my Jousting Lance and because of my powered lance it crushed right though the pitchfork and into the main frame itself. I managed to destroy the internal system of the Glasgow which caused it to fall down and explode, resulting in the pilot to eject in order to save themselves.

The remaining Glasgow tried to stab me in the back with its pitchfork but since I already predicted that OZ shot a round from his assault rifle and blew the cockpit the pilot was in to oblivion. Without anyone inside to pilot it the Glasgow just tumbled down onto the ground.

"That's…takes care of the knightmares but…"

I then looked at the rest of the Threes who were trying to attack us with normal weapons such as machine guns, grenade launchers, and rocket launchers, or whatever else they had in their hands. However, such weapons were useless against the technology we wielded as OZ protected us both by forming that cone shaped blaze luminous shield again. After a few seconds of having to watch their poor attempt of defeating us OZ must of got annoying with them and held his Sutherland Club's assault rifle directly at them in an attempt to make them disarm and leave.

Which must have worked because one of them, who I presumed to be the leader, immediately dropped his weapon and started to shriek out in some foreign language which caused the others to drop their weapons as well.

"Silencio…Silencio…Salgamos de aquí…Vete…Vete!" He frantically shouted out.

As almost as if they were on fire the Threes started to run away as fast as they could while wailing their hands up in the air. Especially since, as far as they know we're personnel of the Britannian Military. They probably thought that more people from the military will show up now that someone discovered what they were planning to do.

"Are we going to pursue them?" OZ questioned as he made his Sutherland Club point its assault rifle at them.

"…No need to. With their man firepower gone I believe they are just going to abandon this plan, mostly out of fear."

"What are we going to do with these buckets full of oil?"

"Call Ganabati up and tell him where we are. I'm sure he and the Militarized Zone of India can found some with three barrels of oil besides causing a forest fire with them. Also, tell him to bring two Sutherland painted white and blue with him as well."

"…Roger that."

After making the call Ganabati showed up in the forest area we were at with his trailer that was disguised to look like one of Britannia's military trailers. Although we were supposed to meet up at a different location outside this forest I figured that this was better than what the plan called for before, especially running into those terrorist now that I can give the Britannian military's airbase a better excuse now.

I then had Ganabati place the white and blue Sutherlands he brought along in the same spot where we found the Glasgow units. OZ and I then destroyed them with our Sutherland Clubs, turning them into pieces of scrap on the floor with the rest of the Glasgow frames.

"Now, to give the Californian airbase my report."

Since I predicted that the frames we were going to take from the Avalon as part of my plan were going to be painted blue, violet, or white like most Britannian frames I had Ganabati supply us with normal Sutherlands painted that color and then destroy them somewhere so the military would think that we got in some accident somewhere and had to abandon the scrapped units.

But since we ran into that terrorist group I decided to send them a message telling them that we got caught up with a battle with terrorists who were trying to set up a forest fire here and to send reinforcements. Although once they finally arrive we will be long gone and only discover that the skirmish with the Threes has already finished with our 'knightmares' destroyed, leaving them to believe that 'Ray Summers' and 'Oliver Parks' were either captured or killed in battle.

After getting the Sutherland Clubs aboard Ganabati's trailer we decided it was time to finally leave the area.

"Okay, let's go." I finished saying.

December 1, 2017 a.t.b.

Location: Underneath the Atlantic Ocean-Inside a Submarine

"…Merry Christmas." I passively said as I handed Rakshata the OZ's data disk and presented her with the Sutherland Clubs.

"Merry Christmas…just what do you mean by that?" Rakshata asked in confusement as her pipe was still in her mouth.

"Well, since I'm mostly likely not going to see you on December 25 I thought I would give you your present now. And since you gave me something I felt it wouldn't be right if I didn't have anything to offer in return so…We got the information on Britannia's new airship as you requested as well as collected some of Camelot's recently created knightmares."

"Hmmm…well I'm sure we'll definitely be able to make some use out of this information. You can be sure that the Militarized Zone of India will send you a hefty reward for this. After all, anything that the Earl of Pudding creates I can make something that's ten times better." Rakshata boasted.

"Isn't that just an overstatement of your own abilities?" I called out.

Rakshata just scoffed back at me.

"Hmph…I'm just stating the facts here."

"Anyways, can you have the Militarized Zone of India mail this to the United States of Japan?" I said as I handed her a small envelop.

"Hmm…sure but, what is this for?" Rakshata replied.

"It's just a letter that I've written for someone. I was hoping it will reach them before December the twenty-fifth. Just make sure it reaches my cousin first. She knows what to do with it."

"Yes, yes, I will make sure this is sent to India's mailing system." Rakshata reluctantly said.

Ending the conversation there I left so the people of India could make haste in their submarine. It's very dangerous for them to be this close to the mainland and it would be best if they left as soon as possible although I still had business to do here.

After I left Rakshata looked up at the two Sutherland Clubs.

"Hmm…It appears that these units make use of the blaze luminous and MVS systems to enhance their weapons and form shields like barriers…Hmm…I wonder if I could produce similar results with my radiant wave surger…?"

December 2, 2017 a.t.b.

Location: Harrington, Delaware (Third Person View)

While sitting inside his Byakuen on top of a hill, outside the town of Harrington OZ listened to Ze complaining as he tried to focus through the lens of his knightmare's accelerator cannon.

"Hey OZ, do you think this is a good idea, trying to ask someone like him to join the Blue Moon Order?" Ze said over the communicator. He too was inside his Glasgow that was sitting on top the damaged roof of a tall, building inside the town.

"You're talking about Suzaku Kururugi, correct?" OZ responded.

"Yeah, him. Why do you think Rai is so interested in a guy like him for? The way I heard it didn't that guy betray his country for the sake of serving as the Third Princess of Britannia? Were they friends or allies at one point?" Ze questioned.

"…I don't know about that. But I do know that if Rai gives us the signal we are to shoot Suzaku Kururugi and the Z-01 unit down." OZ said as he pointed his knightmare's weapon down the hill.

It was pointed directly at Suzaku's Lancelot with the cockpit open, as Suzaku was standing right in front of it and was talking to Rai at the moment. Of course, since they were too far away both OZ and Ze couldn't make out what they were saying.

"You know, I think it would be easier to just kill that guy and hand his white knightmare over to the Militarized Zone of India. I bet they would pay a hefty amount of money for a frame like that."

"Yeah, that's probably true. However, that decision is entirely up to Rai, which I doubt he's going to do since he's not that sort of person." OZ responded.

OZ and Ze then continued to sit in their knightmares with their respective weapons aimed at Suzaku. They continued to maintain their stance until they saw Rai get into his Proto-Gekka and flew away with the prototype air wing glide equipped to it. The two then saw Suzaku get in the Lancelot and flew in the opposite direction that Rai went. Because Rai never gave them any sign to fire they just watch as the Lancelot disappeared into the night sky.

To be continued on...

Act III: The Weapons of Eight Saints and The Witch's Blade


End file.
